Jazz In Coimbra - Cadernos de Jazz em Portugal - Essays on the History of Jazz in Portugal

This study is the first issue of a bilingual editorial project (in Portuguese and English) dedicated to jazz historiography in Portugal, named Cadernos de Jazz em Portugal – Essays on the History of Jazz in Portugal – and edited by Jazz Ao Centro Club’s (JACC) Educational Service. At a first stage, with the Cadernos de Jazz em Portugal, I aim to present the major players and events in the process of development of Jazz in Portugal throughout the Estado Novo (New State) regime (1933-1974). This editorial project followed an invitation from José Miguel Pereira, the president of JACC. For this reason, given that the JACC is located in Coimbra, I chose to dedicate the first issue of this editorial project to the history of jazz in Coimbra, to inform the public about the major jazz-related events that took place between the late 1950s and April 1974, the year of the Carnation Revolution that put an end to the Estado Novo regime. Regarding the subject of the first issue – all jazz activities carried out around Coimbra, between the late 1950s and April 1974 –, it never received the attention it deserved in the scant academic publications on the history of jazz in Portugal. However, the city of Coimbra, the Students’ Union of the University, and Coimbra’s Orfeon Jazz Club played important roles in the process of consolidation of jazz in Portugal. As so, with this first issue, we intend to promote the knowledge about the major events and personalities that most contributed to the diffusion and practice of jazz in Coimbra