Luciana Souza

Last updated
Luciana Souza
Born (1966-07-12) 12 July 1966 (age 58)
São Paulo, Brazil
Genres Jazz, bossa nova, pop, classical, chamber
OccupationSinger
Years active1992–present
Labels Sunnyside, Verve
Website LucianaSouza.com

Luciana Souza (born 12 July 1966) is a Brazilian jazz singer and composer who also works in bossa nova, pop, classical and chamber music. She won a Grammy Award in 2007, and has been nominated for seven others, most recently in 2024. Souza is considered to be one of jazz's leading singers and interpreters. The New York Times called her voice "smooth-surfaced, coolly sensuous and dartingly agile." [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Souza was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. [1] [2] Her father Walter Santos was a singer, songwriter, and commercial musician who also contributed background vocals to bossa nova recordings by Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, and her mother Tereza Souza was a poet and lyricist. [3] [4] [5] She began her recording career at age three with a radio commercial. [5]

In 1985, at age 17, she left Brazil for the United States to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she received a bachelor's degree in jazz composition, and later spent four years as a member of the faculty. [1] [2] [3] She earned a master's degree in jazz studies from the New England Conservatory of Music and taught for four years at the Manhattan School of Music. [3] Souza has also taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and California Institute of the Arts, and since 2024 is a professor at the USC Thornton School of Music. [6]

Career

Souza has performed and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bobby McFerrin, Maria Schneider, Danilo Pérez, Guillermo Klein, John Patitucci, and others. She has been a soloist in new works by composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Derek Bermel, Patrick Zimmerli, Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider, performing with the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, American Composers Orchestra, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and A Far Cry. [3]

Souza produced her first album, An Answer to Your Silence (1998), herself. [3] For her second album, The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (2000), she composed a song cycle revolving around the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, [1] while her 2004 album Neruda features her compositions and vocals set to the words of Pablo Neruda. [7]

Souza appeared in the 2008 David Mamet film Redbelt , and cowrote/translated several songs for the soundtrack. Her song "Muita Bobeira" was featured as a music sample on Windows Vista. On her 2012 album The Book of Chet, she covers the songs of Chet Baker. [2] Her 2018 album The Book of Longing presents her settings of poems by Leonard Cohen, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Christina Rossetti. That year, she collaborated and toured with the Yellowjackets in support of their album Raising Our Voice. [8]

Souza was San Francisco Performances' jazz artist in residence from 2005 through 2010. [9] In 2022, she received a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant to compose a new album-length piece, Twenty-Four Short Musical Episodes. [10]

She collaborated with Trio Corrente on her 2023 album Cometa, with covers of Brazilian classics and original samba songs. [8] Their performance on NPR's Tiny Desk concert series premiered on May 10, 2024, with the set list featuring songs from Cometa: "Bem Que Te Avise", "Baião Joy", "Cometa", and "Quando Você Vier". [11]

Personal life

In 2006, Souza married record producer and musician Larry Klein. [3] They have one son, Noah. [4] They live in Los Angeles. [12]

Awards and honors

Souza won a Grammy Award in 2007 as a featured vocalist on "Amelia" on Herbie Hancock's album River: The Joni Letters . She was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Brazilian Duos (2003), North and South (2004), Duos II (2006), Tide (2010), and The Book of Chet (2013). [13] [14] She was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album for Duos III (2013) and Cometa (2024). [15] [16] She was named Female Singer of the Year in 2005 and 2013 by the Jazz Journalists Association. [15]

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2003 Brazilian Duos Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album Nominated [17]
2004 North and SouthGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumNominated [17]
2005Luciana Souza Jazz Journalists Association Best Female Jazz SingerWon [15]
2006 Duos IIGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumNominated [17]
2008 River: The Joni Letters Grammy Award for Album of the Year Won [17]
2010 TideGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumNominated [17]
2013 Duos III Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album Nominated [17]
The Book of ChetGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumNominated [17]
2013Luciana SouzaJazz Journalists Association Best Female Jazz SingerWon [15]
2024 CometaGrammy Award for Best Latin Jazz AlbumNominated [17]

Discography

As leader

As guest

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Teachout, Terry (4 August 2002). "She's Brazilian, Tempered By a Bit of Everything Else". New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Luciana Souza: From Bossa Nova To Chet Baker". NPR. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Luciana Souza: Wherever the River Flows". Berklee. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 Teachout, Terry (13 May 2006). "Shuffle-Play Music". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 Cunniffe, Thomas. "Luciana Souza: Passion and Versatility". Jazz History Online. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. ↑ "Luciana Souza". USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  7. ↑ Bowden, Marshall. "Luciana Souza: The Book of Longing". New Directions in Music. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 Ouellette, Dan (14 November 2023). "Luciana Souza: Chasing Comets". Downbeat. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  9. ↑ Kaliss, Jeff (17 November 2018). "Luciana Souza Takes a Page From the Book of Longing". Classical Voice. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  10. ↑ "The Jazz Gallery Presents: Luciana Souza". Jazz Speaks. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  11. ↑ Contreras, Felix (10 May 2024). "Tiny Desk Premiere: Luciana Souza". NPR. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  12. ↑ "Luciana Souza". Berklee. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  13. ↑ "Souza's 'New Bossa Nova' Covers Pop Standards". npr.org . 15 October 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Luciana Souza: Revising Pop by Way of Bossa Nova". NPR.org. 21 October 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Jurek, Thom. "Luciana Souza". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "2024 GRAMMYs: See The Full Winners & Nominees List". grammy.com . 10 November 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Luciana Souza". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
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