Overview
- Agent Marion Piras confirmed Portal’s death to AFP and said it occurred on Thursday.
- Bayonne mayor Jean-René Etchegaray praised him on social media as an exceptional clarinetist in both classical music and jazz.
- After winning first prize in clarinet at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1959, he worked with Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
- His 1965 album Free Jazz and leadership of the Michel Portal Unit helped cement a distinct European free‑jazz movement, with noted concerts at Châteauvallon and Uzeste.
- Across a decorated career he earned three César awards, two Sept d’or, the 1983 Grand Prix national de la musique and Victoires du jazz in 2007 and 2021, releasing the album MP85 in 2021.