Claudia Villela Band 
Claudia Villela, vocals/piano/guitar; Ricardo Peixoto, guitar; Jeff Buenz, bass/guitar; Celso Alberti, drums/percussion
Saturday, July 17 | 8 PM | Campbell Recital Hall
Tickets: $32 general | $18 students
Inside Jazz: Brazilian Vocalese
Speaker: Claudia Villela, 7 pm (free with concert ticket)
Tickets Now On Sale
Vocalist Claudia Villela's musical journey began in Rio de Janeiro.
As a young girl, she absorbed the diverse musical culture that surrounded
her, from the songs her parents sang at home to the late-night
sounds of the local samba school that drifted through her bedroom window.
A graduate of the Brazilian Conservatory of Music, she arrived in California
in 1984, and sang with the Stanford University Chorus and De Anza College
Jazz Singers. Villela then received a scholarship to the Manhattan
School of Music, studying with Sheila Jordan, and later attended Cabrillo
College taught by Bay Area composer/educator Ray Brown.
Her astonishing five-octave vocal
range, her distinctive songwriting, and especially her flair for risk-taking
improvisation have made her one of the most celebrated performers in
the Bay Area, described by the late Phil Elwood as a singer who "dances
with her voice on top of Brazilian Beats." Although she composes
music, Villela says she feels "more human, more magical and more
connected in an improvised setting." Dreamtales, her 2005 album
of improvised duets with pianist Kenny Werner, "should come with
a warning: Alert! Your senses are about to be brilliantly arrested" (JazzTimes).
Guitarist Ricardo Peixoto grew up in the same neighborhood as Villela,
but the two met for the first time in the Bay Area. Their 2004 album
Inverse Universe is "vividly different and exciting at every turn," according to DownBeat.
Peixoto is a multi-instrumentalist and an accomplished composer
with influences ranging from Heitor Villa-Lobos to Miles Davis.
He's also a brilliant improviser, whose versatility and creativity
complement Villela's. Together with the rest of her band, Villela
and Peixoto create what musician Michael
Brecker describes as "exotically beautiful and moving music."
LISTEN:
Claudia Villela – "Inverse Universe"
Claudia Villela – "Ima"
Claudia Villela – "Brazil Com S"
WATCH:
Claudia
Villela performing in Monterey, 2009
Claudia Villela
performing at Yoshi's, 2008 |
