Brazilian musician on the New York Times list
Singer and songwriter Luciana Souza has just had her second album, The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs, ranked among the top jazz/pop CDs in 2000
Carlos Calado
02/01/2001
Settled in the USA for nine years, singer and songwriter Luciana Souza finally starts enjoying recognition for her career as a jazz musician. Her second official album, The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (released in September in North-America on Sunnyside) was included in the "best of" list on jazz and pop by the music critic Ben Ratliff, of the New York Times, on December 17. Luciana appears along with D'Angelo, Los Hombres Calientes and Chick Corea, among others.
"It was totally unexpected. I was glad, because a Ben Ratliff remark on a paper as important as the New York Times is like being christened. It does not only validate my work as a singer, but also as a songwriter. When I write, that's where my voice is", celebrates Luciana, spending the New Year holidays in São Paulo with her parents, songwriters Walter Santos and Tereza Souza, a famous couple on the days of bossa nova.
Luciana points out the fact that the album came out on an alternative label, without big financial resources, makes the feat even more special. "Touring along with Danilo Perez's band, I have witnessed the difference that iot makes when you have a recording company take care of promoting the concerts. The label where my album came out has only one clerk, working with a single computer and a telephone line", compares the singer, who, so far, has only played one solo show to promote her album.
Obsession
Luciana's interest in the works of American poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) began four years ago, when her mother got her a book with Bishop's poems. "I started diving into her life, reading the poets that she recommended. I got a little obsessed with her", admits the singer, who got inspiration from the poem The Fish to write a 40-minute instrumental piece in 1998. "Elizabeth produced very little, only three poetry books, but she was an awarded writer. She lived in Brazil, was a lesbian and very much on her own", reports Luciana, also showing fascination with the American writer's pursuit of perfection. "She spent 15 years refusing to print her poems, because she felt that the accurate word was always missing. I have a similar relation with music. Sometimes, I will only sing a song on stage and never get to it again. So I can find it four years later and rewrite it. I think that composition is like handicraft. The spontaneity that exists in the jazz bothers me, sometimes", she states.
Besides writing songs upon Bishop poems in her CD (Sonnet, Argument, Insomnia e Imber Nocturnus), Luciana wrote other eight tracks. These songs feature sophisticated scat singing, constantly dialoguing with Chris Cheek's tenor sax. "I am not your typical jazz singer, which is to my advantage", says the São Paulo-native composer who, up till 1999, was a professor at the Berklee School of Music, in Boston.
Formula
"Being successful in jazz can be dangerous", observes the singer, explaining that she is concerned about being attached to a music style. "You may turn into a Brad Mehldau, who is such a great pianist, but he is forced to make an album every year, following a formula. You become successful with that and the audience expects you to go on doing it. I don't want anyone to have expectations toward me, because I myself don't have them. I don't want to be framed."
After making two albums that were relatively daring for the current standards in the jazz market, Luciana agrees that it would be interesting to be able to rely on the structure of a major label. "A label in Chicago has offered me plenty of cash to record American standards, but I decided not to take up on the offer, at the time. Now, though, I am a bit tired of financing my projects. Now people know who I am."
The next project could be a bossa nova and BPM album, which Luciana recorded in 1998, but has not yet been mastered. In the album, only the acoustic guitars of Romero Lubambo, Marco Pereira and her dad, Walter Santos, each performing in four tracks. The repertoire features compositions by Tom Jobim, Toninho Horta, Djavan, Luiz Gonzaga and Walter Santos. "I reckon Duos might be a good name, because it works both in English and Portuguese. In fact, I would like to record the album all over again, because it was originally recorded live in a small studio in New York City, which I paid for myself. Since some labels have been contacting me, the possibility exists."
Assorted projects
Meanwhile, Hermeto Pascoal's god-daughter carries a number of ongoing projects. Her voice will be featured in the next albums by bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Mike Stern. She can also be heard from February 8th to 10th at the Symphony Hall in Boston, where Luciana will be the soloist for Passion According to St. Mark, by Osvaldo Golijov. "It is going to be so exciting to perform in this town where I lived for so many years", she celebrates.
In the following month, she goes on tour with Danilo Perez again. "I have learned so much from him. Singing with other musicians is so enlightening. You grow, have new opportunities, and when you get back to your things, you're a lot more into them", says Luciana, who will only perform the songs of her latest release on March 22, at the Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York. Then, she goes on her first solo tour: a series of 10 gigs around Spain.
Married to American drummer David Korchin and having no immediate plans to return to Brazil, Luciana admits that she would like to perform in a jazz festival or tour round the country. "That would be wonderful. It was great that I could study in the United states, but today I still imagine what things would have been like, had I taken up Djavan's offer to be his back up singer"she says, also revealing her plans to make albums with songs by Djavan and Milton Nascimento, only. "Of course, I want to work and make more money, but what I am doing today is already so good. If I died tomorrow, I would die happy". If you want to know more about the singer, try her web site: www.lucianasouza.com
"It was totally unexpected. I was glad, because a Ben Ratliff remark on a paper as important as the New York Times is like being christened. It does not only validate my work as a singer, but also as a songwriter. When I write, that's where my voice is", celebrates Luciana, spending the New Year holidays in São Paulo with her parents, songwriters Walter Santos and Tereza Souza, a famous couple on the days of bossa nova.
Luciana points out the fact that the album came out on an alternative label, without big financial resources, makes the feat even more special. "Touring along with Danilo Perez's band, I have witnessed the difference that iot makes when you have a recording company take care of promoting the concerts. The label where my album came out has only one clerk, working with a single computer and a telephone line", compares the singer, who, so far, has only played one solo show to promote her album.
Obsession
Luciana's interest in the works of American poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) began four years ago, when her mother got her a book with Bishop's poems. "I started diving into her life, reading the poets that she recommended. I got a little obsessed with her", admits the singer, who got inspiration from the poem The Fish to write a 40-minute instrumental piece in 1998. "Elizabeth produced very little, only three poetry books, but she was an awarded writer. She lived in Brazil, was a lesbian and very much on her own", reports Luciana, also showing fascination with the American writer's pursuit of perfection. "She spent 15 years refusing to print her poems, because she felt that the accurate word was always missing. I have a similar relation with music. Sometimes, I will only sing a song on stage and never get to it again. So I can find it four years later and rewrite it. I think that composition is like handicraft. The spontaneity that exists in the jazz bothers me, sometimes", she states.
Besides writing songs upon Bishop poems in her CD (Sonnet, Argument, Insomnia e Imber Nocturnus), Luciana wrote other eight tracks. These songs feature sophisticated scat singing, constantly dialoguing with Chris Cheek's tenor sax. "I am not your typical jazz singer, which is to my advantage", says the São Paulo-native composer who, up till 1999, was a professor at the Berklee School of Music, in Boston.
Formula
"Being successful in jazz can be dangerous", observes the singer, explaining that she is concerned about being attached to a music style. "You may turn into a Brad Mehldau, who is such a great pianist, but he is forced to make an album every year, following a formula. You become successful with that and the audience expects you to go on doing it. I don't want anyone to have expectations toward me, because I myself don't have them. I don't want to be framed."
After making two albums that were relatively daring for the current standards in the jazz market, Luciana agrees that it would be interesting to be able to rely on the structure of a major label. "A label in Chicago has offered me plenty of cash to record American standards, but I decided not to take up on the offer, at the time. Now, though, I am a bit tired of financing my projects. Now people know who I am."
The next project could be a bossa nova and BPM album, which Luciana recorded in 1998, but has not yet been mastered. In the album, only the acoustic guitars of Romero Lubambo, Marco Pereira and her dad, Walter Santos, each performing in four tracks. The repertoire features compositions by Tom Jobim, Toninho Horta, Djavan, Luiz Gonzaga and Walter Santos. "I reckon Duos might be a good name, because it works both in English and Portuguese. In fact, I would like to record the album all over again, because it was originally recorded live in a small studio in New York City, which I paid for myself. Since some labels have been contacting me, the possibility exists."
Assorted projects
Meanwhile, Hermeto Pascoal's god-daughter carries a number of ongoing projects. Her voice will be featured in the next albums by bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Mike Stern. She can also be heard from February 8th to 10th at the Symphony Hall in Boston, where Luciana will be the soloist for Passion According to St. Mark, by Osvaldo Golijov. "It is going to be so exciting to perform in this town where I lived for so many years", she celebrates.
In the following month, she goes on tour with Danilo Perez again. "I have learned so much from him. Singing with other musicians is so enlightening. You grow, have new opportunities, and when you get back to your things, you're a lot more into them", says Luciana, who will only perform the songs of her latest release on March 22, at the Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York. Then, she goes on her first solo tour: a series of 10 gigs around Spain.
Married to American drummer David Korchin and having no immediate plans to return to Brazil, Luciana admits that she would like to perform in a jazz festival or tour round the country. "That would be wonderful. It was great that I could study in the United states, but today I still imagine what things would have been like, had I taken up Djavan's offer to be his back up singer"she says, also revealing her plans to make albums with songs by Djavan and Milton Nascimento, only. "Of course, I want to work and make more money, but what I am doing today is already so good. If I died tomorrow, I would die happy". If you want to know more about the singer, try her web site: www.lucianasouza.com