Luciana Souza

Biography

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."

Early life and education

Souza was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. 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. She began her recording career at age three with a radio commercial.
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. 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. 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.

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.
Souza produced her first album, An Answer to Your Silence×An Answer to Your Silence1998 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Baiao à Tempo6:392Muita Bobeira6:313Time Does Not Wait5:534An Answer to Your Silence7:075Bonita5:0563 to 2 in Overtime6:267Azul Contente4:198Say No To You8:009Retrato Em Branco E Preto3:3710Snowboundaries3:5111Embraceable You4:39 (1998), herself. 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, while her 2004 album Neruda×Neruda6 April 2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1House4:152We Are Many7:153Sonnet 994:554I Will Come Back1:425Memory6:066Loneliness4:167Sonnet 492:498Poetry6:329Leaning Into the Afternoons3:1810Tonight I Can Write8:39 features her compositions and vocals set to the words of Pablo Neruda.
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×The Book of Chet28 August 2012 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1The Thrill Is Gone5:402Forgetful5:153He Was Too Good to Me4:244I Get Along Without You Very Well5:455Oh You Crazy Moon4:176The Touch of Your Lips2:557The Very Thought of You5:088I Fall in Love Too Easily4:279I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You4:1510You Go to My Head4:27, she covers the songs of Chet Baker. Her 2018 album The Book of Longing×The Book of Longing24 August 2018 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1These Things5:152Daybreak3:283Alms4:354Night Song4:585Paris3:146The Book4:027Tonight4:488We Grow Accustomed to the Dark4:209A Life3:1510Remember2:56 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.
Souza was San Francisco Performances' jazz artist in residence from 2005 through 2010. In 2022, she received a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant to compose a new album-length piece, Twenty-Four Short Musical Episodes.
She collaborated with Trio Corrente on her 2023 album Cometa×Cometa25 August 2023 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Voce já foi à Bahía3:112Pra machucar meu coração5:513Ventos do norte4:304Sem você3:495Rumo dos ventos3:376Baião joy4:507Bem que te avisei3:208Quando você vier4:239Requebre que eu dou um doce3:3610Cometa6:00, with covers of Brazilian classics and original samba songs. 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".

Personal life

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

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×Brazilian Duos14 May 2002 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Baião Medley5:252Suas Mãos3:563Pra Que Discutir com Madame2:434Pra Dizer Adeus3:405Amanhã3:026Eu Não Existo Sem Você2:387Doce de Côco4:028As Praias Desertas3:329Docemente4:3910O Bolo2:0811Viver de Amor4:0112Saudade da Bahia2:46 (2003), North and South (2004), Duos II×Duos II24 May 2005 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Saidessa3:032Nos Horizontes Do Mundo4:033A Flor E O Espinho & Juizo Final4:494Muita Bobeira2:525Modinha3:336No Carnaval4:297Samba Dalu3:518Aparecida5:529Trocando Em Miudos5:4510Chorinho Pra Ele2:5611Atras Da Porta2:4812Você3:34 (2006), Tide (2010), and The Book of Chet (2013). She was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album for Duos III×Duos III28 August 2012 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Tim tim por tim tim1:322Doralice2:063Chora coração2:424Pedra da lua2:555Dona Lu3:566Mágoas de caboclo3:397Eu vim da Bahia2:428As rosas não falam4:029Medley : Lamento sertanejo (Forró do Dominguinhos) / Maçã do rosto3:4510Inútil paisagem2:5111Dindi6:0612Beijo partido5:03 (2013) and Cometa×Cometa25 August 2023 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Voce já foi à Bahía3:112Pra machucar meu coração5:513Ventos do norte4:304Sem você3:495Rumo dos ventos3:376Baião joy4:507Bem que te avisei3:208Quando você vier4:239Requebre que eu dou um doce3:3610Cometa6:00 (2024). She was named Female Singer of the Year in 2005 and 2013 by the Jazz Journalists Association.

As leader

An Answer to Your Silence (NYC Records 6030, 1998)
The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (Sunnyside 1091, 2000)
Brazilian Duos (Sunnyside 1100, 2002)
Norte e Sul North and South (Sunnyside 1112, 2003)
Neruda (Sunnyside 1132, 2004)
Duos II (Sunnyside 1142, 2005)
The New Bossa Nova (Verve B0009456 02, 2007)
Tide (Verve B0012688 02, 2009)
Duos III (Sunnyside 1315, 2012)
The Book of Chet (Sunnyside 1316, 2012)
Speaking in Tongues (Sunnyside 1410, 2015)
The Book of Longing (Sunnyside 1518, 2018)
Storytellers (with the WDR Big Band) (Sunnyside 1575, 2020)
Cometa (with Trio Corrente) (Sunnyside 1696, 2023)
Twenty-Four Short Musical Episodes (Sunnyside, 2024)