The man many call "The Father of Jazz" in Portugal ... Luis Villas-Boas - The prime force behind Jazz (and the love of Jazz) in his country ...
Founder of the "HCP - Hot Clube de Portugal" in Lisbon (March - 1948), and its first member, ... Owner of the now legendary (and no longer running) Jazz Club - "Luisiana" in Cascais (where many noteable musician played: Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Charles Lloyd, Cecil McBee, Louis Hayes, Gerry Mulligan, and many others), having founded this Jazz club in September, 1965....
The face behind: the radio show "Hot Club" from the mid forties to 1969, the television series - "Clube de Jazz" in the 80s (among many other other televised programs), author of a myriad of articles on the subject of Jazz and its practitioners ... having been a personal friend to many of jazz's greatest stars, he promoted some incredible encounters - such as: Don Byas (a close friend) and Amalia Rodrigues (... both went to studio and recorded at "Vatentim de Carvalho")...
With the aid of Bass player - Ze Eduardo, he founded the first Jazz School in the country in 1977, "Escola de Jazz do Hot Clube" (HCP - Lisbon), a school that now bears his name...
Among various national demonstrations of approval, recognition and appreciation of his immence valour, he recieved one of the country's highest commendations in 1989 - the "Ordem Infante D. Henrique" from the Presedent of the Republic - Mario Soares...
The Promoter of countless Jazz fests - ie. "Festival de Jazz de Cascais" (from 1971 - 1988, along with festivals in other localities - Lisbon, Espinho, Figueira da Foz, Algarve, etc.) ... responsible for bringing a wealth of extraordinary musicians to the country - (besides those already mentioned i.e. - Jarrett, DeJohnette, Lloyd, McBee, Hayes, Mulligan...) and many other Jazz Greats - Sidney Bechet, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, Quincy Jones, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Don Byas, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Kai Winding, Betty Carter, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Thelonius Monk, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman, Roy Haines, Charles Mingus, Dizzie Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Fats Domino, Phil Jones, Sonny Stitt, Horace Silver, Billy Higgins, Gary Burton, Gato Barbiery, Howard Johnston, Tete Montoliu, Kenny Kirkland, Al McKibbon, Roland Kirk, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Canonball Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Mike Ross, Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Phil Woods, Gary Bartz, John Ambercombie, George Mraz, Richard Beirach, Pete Donald, Cecil Taylor, Soft Machine, George Duke, Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez, Lee Konitz, Jean Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli, Pierre Michelot, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Shelley Maine, Earl Heinz, Hank Jones, Billy Higgins, Mel Lewis, Albert Ayler, Red Rodney, Cecil McBee, Louis Hayes, Freddie Hubbard, Daniel Humair, Bobby McFerrin, Chet Baker, Sam Rivers, Rex Stewart, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Buck Clayton, the list of Top Jazz men / women is incredibly extensive - thus we beg forgiveness for those Jazz Giants we have inadvertantly left out ...
A friend and mentor to a number of talented musicians in Portugal (some of which are equally world class and in fact belong to the group of people previously mentioned), having had a profound influence upon their lives / Zé Eduardo, António Pinho Vargas, EmÃlio Robalo, Rão Kyao, João Braga, Amalia Rodrigues, Paleka, Maria João, Mário Laginha, Mike Ross, Carlos Barretto, Moreira (Bernardo, Pedro, João, Bernardo, ...), Pedro Mestre, Grupo - Plexus, Tomas Pimentel, Rui Cardoso, Pedro Wallenstein, Carlos Zingaro, Celso de Carvalho, Rui Veloso, Paul Stoker, Zeca Neves, Luis Caldeira, António de Sousa, Bernardo Sassetti, Fredo Mergner, Laurent Felipe, Carlos Vieira, David Gausden, Luis Moreira, Zlato Kaucic, Manuel Paulo, João Heitor, João Maló, Luis Stoffell, João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Henry de Sousa, Fernando Judice, Claus Nymark, Carlos Azevedo, Emanuel Ramalho, Quim M'Jojo, Joao Courinha, Maria Viana, Antonio Ferro, Carlos Martins, Antonio Neves da Silva, Nanã Sousa Dias, Andre Sousa Machado, Nuno Goncalves, Zé Martins, Guida Costa, Miguel Sa Pessoa, Carlos Augusto, Paulo Gil, Grupo - Araripa, Manuel Jorge Veloso, ... and countless other wonderful Portuguese musicians (so many equally gifted people - these lists of musicians must and shall be updated - as we are most certainly leaving out numerous valuable musicians - which, besides being unfair - will never truly transmit the lives this man touched)
Luis Villas Boas (usually spelt Luis Vilas-Boas or Luis Villas-Boas)
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The prime force behind Jazz (and the love of Jazz) in his country ...
A dear friend to many of the world's Jazz greats .....
Born into a family of musicians on March 26th, 1926, in Lisbon - under the name
- Luis Teixeira Pinto Villas-Boas.....
Don Byas, as Best Man, attended Luis's wedding - to his beloved wife - Maria Helena.....
He fell victim to a treacherous disease (Alzheimer) and began to slow down in the mid 1990's, having died March 10, 1999...
A tremendous loss, this man is sorely missed by many, in and out of Portugal...
In hopes of honouring the effort of this outstanding and beautiful Human Being - this page is being built by his friends... imput is more than welcome (in any language ... )
(protected artwork, contained herein, is conceded by the artist / similarly music is authorized by its authors, in this case, the groups playing)
