Claudia Villela

Sunday, August 14, 2011 | Castellano Latin Stage | 6pm

Brazilian jazz vocalist Claudia Villela possesses an impressive five-octave range. That range, coupled with her intuitive improvisations and her delightful playfulness, have drawn fans at a number of prominent night spots and music festivals, among them the Monterey Jazz Festival and Jazz at Filoli.

Claudia began her musical odyssey at home in Rio de Janeiro, where she listened to her father's harmonica and her mother's singing. As she lay in bed each night, a Latin lullaby drifted through her window from a nearby samba school. When she turned one year old, her birthday gift from her dad was a pianola, which is similar to an accordion. By adolescence, the vocalist participated in music festivals throughout the city, and had progressed to working on movie soundtracks and singing backup for recording artists. At one time Villela had leaned toward a career in medicine, but she later wanted to work in the field of music therapy, using music to promote healing in people suffering from physical disabilities or neurological disturbances.

In 1984, Villela moved to California. By 1985, she joined the Stanford University Chorus. The following year she sang with the De Anza College Jazz Singers and was with the group when it triumphed at a jazz competition held by Downbeat. A scholarship to Manhattan School of Music followed, allowing her to become a student of Sheila Jordan. On the strength of her engaging ability to improvise be-bop, she attended Cabrillo College as a Jay Shore scholarship student. At Cabrillo she studied under Ray Brown.

She produced her first release of original compositions, Asa Verde, in 1994. Her children, Christina and Carla, appeared on one of the tracks. The following year, Taina Music issued First Light, an album that contains both Brazilian folk music and original works by Villela.