Propelling the virtuosity of Brazilian music to unbelievable heights.
Critics review Brazil’s Claudia Villela: We’ve gathered the most insightful comments, critiques, and observations from music’s influential experts.
From her first album in 1996 to today’s Cartas as Vento and through countless live performances, Brazil’s Claudia Villela prompts a single word from fans and scribes alike. Unique.
As a Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter, Claudia Villela’s talent for improvisation and interpretation is seemingly boundless. Live and unscripted duo setting with pianist Kenny Werner? Check. Earning the accolade of Genius from the legendary Brazilian musician, Hermeto? Check. Setting Latin American poetry to music in ways that enhance the rhythm and rhyme of each verse? Check.
Here’s Connect Brazil’s roundup of top reviews for one of Brazilian music’s most remarkable creators.
Scott Adams, Connect Brazil
- Discover her new album Cartas Ao Vento: 10 Questions with Claudia Villela
“My singing is the sum of all the music I’ve heard, from Brazilian baroque to bossa nova to free jazz, the nostalgic and modern. It comes from all those memories.” – Claudia Villela
Critics review Brazil’s Claudia Villela
Rusty Aceves | SFJazz
“We anxiously await the return of Brazilian vocalist, pianist, and songwriter Claudia Villela to SFJazz and the Joe Henderson Lab.”
It is often said that one can judge an artist by the company they keep. Villela’s list of collaborators alone attests to her greatness. Her 1996 release Supernova features appearances by the late saxophone legend Michael Brecker and bassist Harvie S along with Brazilian guitar virtuoso Toninho Horta.
Her 2003 session Inverse Universe was recorded in duet with guitarist and longtime collaborator Ricardo Peixoto. (It) features an appearance by the late harmonica master Toots Thielemans. 2004’s DreamTales was a duo project with jazz piano great Kenny Werner.
She has appeared as a guest artist on releases by Jeff Linsky, Victor Fields, and the VW Brothers.
Most recently, Villela worked with the iconic Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira on Purim’s 2022 release If You Will, writing and performing on the recording of the song ‘Zahuroo.’
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at SFJazz.
Suzanne Lorg | Downbeat
“I don’t know where [all of the ideas] come from. When I sing, I’m in a spell and that’s where the magic happens.”
All discussions about Villela’s singing and songwriting necessarily start with a nod to the dizzying scope and depth of her improvisatory skill. In one tune (say, ‘Cuscus’), she’ll run through several registers, shift vocal qualities, allude to familiar riffs, and keep unswerving time. Oh, and improvise a full set of lyrics in Portuguese. It must be said, hardly anybody can do this.
The bebop singers come closest, perhaps. And though Villela studied at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music with scat master Sheila Jordan—a fitting guide for the naturally intuitive singer—bebop is only one of Villela’s sources. In addition, she culls references from Western classical music, lullabies, traditional Brazilian sambas, bossas, choros, and the like.
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at Downbeat.
Andrew Gilbert | SF Classical Voice
“An extraordinary journey marked by luscious melodies, constantly shifting instrumental combinations, and improvisational flights to unlikely destinations.”
As she made her way through the audience, Claudia Villela sang a quiet wordless melody, more to herself than to the people assembled for her second show Friday at SFJAZZ.
Within moments she and multi-instrumentalist Gary Meek had set out on an extraordinary journey marked by luscious melodies, constantly shifting instrumental combinations, and improvisational flights to unlikely destinations. Focusing on original songs from her gorgeous new album, Cartas ao Vento, the Santa Cruz-based Villela seemed to enter a zone of pure invention.
Villela’s uproarious frevo, ‘Batucador’ ended the evening with a blast of jubilant energy, providing yet another reminder that the Bay Area is fortunate indeed that one of the world’s finest Brazilian jazz artists has long called the region home.
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at SF Classical Voice.
Headliners: Critics Review Brazil’s Claudia Villela
“Most singers who improvise freely engage in sound explorations… but Villela is not shy to create melodies, sound warm, and develop her improvisations logically…” – Scott Yanow, All Music
“Claudia Villela treated us to a night of unforgettable music. It was the kind of performance that when you leave, you want to tell everyone you see how great it was. This is what a musical event should be like.” – The Audio Beatnik
“[Villela’s] up-tempo scatting produces several dazzling passages, with lightning-fast phrasing that puts her at the top of the game.” – DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue
“Villela doesn’t just sing – she actually dances with her voice on top of Brazilian beats.” – Phil Elwood, San Francisco Chronicle
“Claudia is the only singer I’ve met who not only can play free for a whole set but can bring enough textures to make it feel like spontaneous composition.” – Pianist Kenny Werner, Downbeat
“A Brazilian-born genius with a blistering voice.” – JazzTimes
“She is pure music!” – Bela Fleck
Read more about Brazilian pianist, singer, and songwriter Claudia Villela:
Read more quotes from Critics Review Brazil’s Claudia Villela
Egídio Leitão | Música Brasileira
“Cartas ao Vento is a superb release destined to elevate the music and artistry of Cláudia Villela to new heights. She excels in her art.”
Besides a superb repertoire and captivating vocals, Villela spared no surprises with the A-list of musicians she assembled for the recording, with production by Mario Adnet. To talk about the music in the album is an exercise in superlatives. Placing a strong emphasis on her songwriting skills, Villela excels track after track.
[Here are] Villela’s own words:“[Cartas ao Vento] ended up being a document of self-discovery. It’s an offering in tribute to my inspiring Brazilian artists like Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Pascoal, Toninho Horta, Guinga, Villa Lobos, and more.”
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at Música Brasileira.
Katchie Cartwright | All About Jazz
‘Villela has gained recognition in California and beyond as an intrepid improviser with a beautiful voice who creates captivating live shows.’
With Cartas ao Vento, she changes direction, focusing on composing. The title cut sets the tone. The quintessentially Brazilian sound of the cuica identifies the track, mingled with Gonçalves’ reflective accordion. The piece releases into a gently rolling samba and concludes with the whistled call of a uirapuru, an endangered Amazon rainforest wren.
When improvising, Villela describes an altered state, a sort of trance wherein she “channels” memories: the voice of the bottle collector on the street where she grew up, the “lullaby” of the samba bateria rehearsing behind her grandmother’s house.
The feel she creates is akin to Israeli singer Yasmin Levy. The lines, “I am not the music, I am an instrument” resonate with experiences Villela has described when she feels she is a medium for the music.
Tap or click the link to read the complete review at AllAboutJazz.
Staff | Jazz Music Archives
‘Claudia Villela’s glorious five-octave instrument is one of the wonders of jazz, lithe and startlingly beautiful in every register.’
Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, she sings mostly in Portuguese, interpreting lyrics with keen emotional insight and supple rhythmic command. A supremely inventive scat singer, she has honed a vivid vocabulary of sounds that can evoke the hollow thump of a tabla drum, the muted trumpet of Miles Davis, the insistent twang of a berimbau, the ethereal call of a flute, or the distortion-laden Stratocaster licks of Jimi Hendrix.
Based in the Santa Cruz area since the mid-1980s, Villela has evolved into an expressive pianist and percussionist. She’s an ingenious composer and lyricist with an astonishing body of original material, as well as a repertoire of jewels from the Brazilian songbook.
Villela’s international reputation as a performer and composer continues to grow through appearances at the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals and clubs.
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at Jazz Music Archives.
Raul da Gama | World Music Report
“If you haven’t heard of Claudia Villela yet, Encantada is an excellent disc to make her acquaintance. And if you’ve heard her before, then you’ll find that this is probably the best you’ve ever heard from her. Period.”
Another important aspect of this recording is the profoundly beautiful music of Miss Villela, sung with a superb sense of freedom. It is also music that springs from a deeply personalized Brasilian landscape, which, in turn, mixes beauty and danger. It evokes the elemental sounds of birds and animals, and as in “Minas” renders the immutable aspect to the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with blue and white.
- Tap or click the link to read the complete review at World Music Report.
Critics review Brazil’s Claudia Villela
Sounds:
Contact Claudia Villela
- Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | X (Twitter)
- Buy Here | Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Bandcamp
Listen free: XODO | New Music: Brazil | Women Of Brazilian Song | Our Streaming Station
Music, Travel, Friends, and Fun!
Critics review Brazil’s Claudia Villela
Stories like ‘Critics review Brazil’s Claudia Villela’ are what we do. Why don’t you join us?
Sign Up for our e-letter. Listen to our live streaming station and our streaming music channels, always free. Browse our Lifestyle Directory. Like our Facebook page, follow us on X (Twitter), and find Brazilian events coast to coast.
