Personnel:
Duarte Ventura (vib), Miguel Valente (as), Miguel Meirinhos (p), Zé Almeida (b), Luís Possollo (d)
Reference: FSNT-722
Bar code: 8427328437226
Duarte Ventura’s debut album, Blurred Image, is both a personal statement and a portrait of a vibrant scene. It documents not only the emergence of a great young vibraphone player, but also the creativity of a new generation of outstanding Portuguese jazz musicians.
The group came together in 2022, when Duarte set out to form a band that could bring to life the music he was imagining in his head. He chose musicians with whom he felt a deep musical and aesthetic connection but who also had strong and distinctive voices of their own: Miguel Valente on alto saxophone, Zé Almeida on double bass, and Luís Possollo on drums. Although his initial plan was to work in quartet, he soon realized that he was missing a harmonic anchor and invited pianist Miguel Meirinhos to join.
The band’s official launch came in 2023, when it won the Young Musicians Prize, which provided funding to record an album. Over the following year, the band spent two week-long residencies dedicated to rehearsing and developing the music in depth. That intense preparation, combined with the trust and camaraderie of close friendships, canbeheardinevery track.
As a band, their sound is both adventurous and assured: they explore new territory, but always with conviction, intention, and clarity. Duarte’s playing is versatile and nuanced, always beautiful, always in tune with the sound of his band. The result is a recording that captures the development of a singular voice while at the same time celebrating the emergence of a collective sound. It places Duarte firmly within the broader conversation of contemporary jazz [...]
—Jorge Rossy (from the inside liner notes)
