Virtuoso clarinetist, saxophonist, film composer and major figure in contemporary jazz, Michel Portal died at the age of 90, an agent announced on Sunday. An unclassifiable artist, winner of multiple awards, he contributed in the 1960s to freeing European jazz from American canons.

Published on: 02/15/2026 - 3:57 p.m. Modified on: 02/15/2026 - 4:38 p.m.

French clarinetist Michel Portal, a contemporary jazz figure and jack-of-all-trades composer, died at the age of 90 on Thursday, one of his agents announced on Sunday February 15, after a long, multi-awarded career.

Known for his versatility of genres and instruments - he also played the saxophone, the Argentine bandoneon and the Hungarian taragot - he was considered one of the pioneers of free jazz and composed for the cinema.

In 1965, he laid the foundations of a new jazz with the album "Free Jazz", freeing European jazz from American canons.

He was "an immense monument for modern jazz, for European jazz, totally open to a lot of music and experiences", greeted AFP one of his artistic agents, Marion Piras, who specified that his death occurred on Thursday February 12. “This immense clarinetist, friend of the greatest musicians of his time, excelled in classical as well as jazz,” the mayor of Bayonne, his hometown, in the southwest of France, Jean-René Etchegaray, also paid tribute to him on social networks.

“I am scattered,” admitted the musician with white hair, piercing eyes and dressed all in black on stage.

A “new kind of language”

Winner of three César Awards for best film music ("The Return of Martin Guerre" in 1983, "Les Cavaliers de l'Orage" in 1985, "Champ d'Honneur" in 1988), two Sept d'Or for film music, the 1983 National Grand Prix de la Musique, and Victoires du Jazz in 2007 and 2021, among other prizes, he claimed the idea of movement perpetual across musical genres and influences.

A lover of crossbreeding, a seeker of a "new kind of language", he said he was an enemy of "routine", favoring festive music over harmony.

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“I worked a lot, to the point of going crazy,” recalled the composer, also recognized for his improvisational talents, in an interview with AFP in 2021, on the occasion of the release of the latest opus of a long discography, MP85.

Born on November 27, 1935 in Bayonne, he practiced the clarinet assiduously from the age of eight. Local folklore groups and chamber orchestras are part of its daily life.

From free jazz to tango

First prize in clarinet at the Paris Conservatory in 1959, he acquired a solid reputation as a soloist and participated in the contemporary music creations of Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

With his own group, the "Michel Portal Unit", he triumphs in memorable concerts. But he is also passionate about tango, and rubs shoulders with Prince's funk musicians for a landmark record, "Minneapolis".

“As a child, I was always thinking about people who went to the depths of the world to see what life was like there,” he said.

“Label him a classical instrumentalist and he hastens to blow jazzy sounds. Define him as a jazzman and here he goes in rhythm'n'blues, in world, in fusion,” praised Libération in 2006.

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To produce his latest record, "MP 85", Bojan Z, his pianist since the 1990s, had put together a group of musicians from various origins and generations.

“I am Basque, he (Bojan Z) is Serbian, the other (trombonist Nils Wogram) is German, the other (drummer Lander Gyselinck) is Belgian. Chevillon (Bruno, double bassist), he is from the South,” laughed Michel Portal.

“It is difficult to understand the state of freshness in which he is at 85 years old,” Bojan Z confided at the time.

The record was crowned with the title of best instrumental jazz album at the Victoires du jazz.

With AFP

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