Born in 1935 in Bayonne, France, Michel Portal began playing the clarinet at age 8. He is now remembered as a pioneer of modern European jazz and a significant figure in the evolution of modern classical music. 

Having won first prize in clarinet at the Paris Conservatory in 1959, his reputation as a soloist later saw him collaborate with composers Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, and Karlheinz Stockhausen on their contemporary works. 

Additionally, alongside pianist François Tusques, trumpeter Bernard Vitet, drummer Charles Saudrais, and tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen, Portal worked to expand on the work of leading American figures of avant-garde jazz as part of the nascent French free jazz movement. 

His 1965 album “Free Jazz” was considered a landmark in Europe’s efforts to broaden the borders of a genre largely rooted in the U.S. In 1969, he co-founded the New Phonic Art improvisational group, and a year later, founded his own Michel Portal Unit, an internationally renowned experimental free jazz group. 

Portal also played the saxophone and the Argentine bandoneon or the Hungarian taragot. In a 1978 interview, he said: “I am a chameleon with instruments and also a chameleon inside myself.”

In addition to his performing career, Portal wrote music for more than 50 films from the 1960s through to 2015, including the award-winning 1982 historical drama The Return of Martin Guerre. He also won three French Cesar awards for his film music.

Portal’s last album, released for his 85th birthday in 2021, won the jazz album of the year at France's Victoires music awards.

 

 

“Every musician that comes along has a certain way of playing in mind … and every musician has a clear reference in mind, a sort of “father.” … After the deaths of Ayler and Hendrix, and later of Miles Davis (who was a big reference for a lot of musicians), many people lost their way,” Portal said in 2004.

“But at the same time, without a clear reference, many musicians have focused on their own identity and way of playing, being honest with themselves,” he explained. “If you were to ask each one of these musicians what style they play, they would say ‘the only one that exists.’ Yet at some stage, the communication between musicians was lost … Without a reference point, the hinge on which communication exists becomes lost.

“I don’t want to become part of any fashionable trends, an ‘example’ of something; in France it is always a matter of fashion and each fashion is very, very short-lived,” he continued. “France is very intellectual, very avant-garde and people don’t like to hear what they think has already been done.”

Mr. Portal’s death was announced by Marion Piras, one of his representatives, who told AFP that Portal was “a huge monument for modern jazz, for European jazz, totally open to a huge amount of music and experiences.”

“This immense clarinetist, a friend of the greatest musicians of his time, excelled in both classical and jazz,” added Jean-René Etchegaray, the mayor of Bayonne. 

Our condolences to Mr. Portal’s family, friends, and colleagues.