Maria João’s name is indelibly linked to the history of Portuguese jazz. Exactly 40 years ago, in 1983, her debut at Orfeu with the eponymous recording by the Quinteto Maria João marked the beginning of a unique path that established her as one of the leading figures on the national music scene, a status she still maintains today thanks to a permanent capacity for reinvention and an incessant search for new and stimulating artistic paths. It could even be said that the work of Maria João, a complete artist, is the result of a state of permanent revolution, a manifestation of freedom that has taken her from the deepest acoustic traditions to the electronic present and future with the same ease.

In these four decades of intense journey, Maria João has never rested and has constantly challenged herself: She has led her own quintet, been a member of the Ogre collective, established long partnerships with musicians such as pianist Mário Laginha or bassist Carlos Bica – with whom, by the way, she has just released a new album – and has also recorded extensively with international artists such as Japanese pianist Aki Takase, Joe Zawinul and Trilok Gurtu and national artists such as the already mentioned Carlos Bica and Mário Laginha, or Laurent Filipe, António Pinho Vargas, Jorge Palma, José Peixoto, Julio Pereira and many others.

The new chapter in this ever-open story is Maria João Revolution, an aggregating way for the artist to show herself to be plural, fitting her different interests into a new vision that can start from jazz and reach electronics in a single song, reduce the setting for her voice to the notes of a piano or look for innovative solutions for her ultra-versatile voice. on the album, Maria João Revolution will touch on the multiple aesthetics that the singer has always embraced, with a new repertoire that promises to surprise.

But it will be on stage that Maria João will first show herself, with a flexible line-up capable of adapting to different spaces and contexts, but always with the most inventive spirit of adventure guiding her creative approach to some of the most significant moments in her celebrated career. A show to win over new audiences and please old fans.

With a long history of performing on prestigious stages on five continents and receiving multiple distinctions from the international press and industry for her versatility, originality and musical inventiveness, values she carries with her into each new chapter of her career, Maria João continues to look forward. And four decades after she began documenting her unbridled passion for music on records, Maria João is still looking for new challenges that will allow her to continue giving full voice to her imagination. An absolutely unique case.