Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Claudia Villela: Cartas ao Vento

Claudia Villela: Cartas ao Vento

By Katchie Cartwright
August 21, 2023
View read count

Cartas ao Vento marks a return and a departure for

Claudia Villela

vocals
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Claudia Villela. Born in Rio, she moved to Santa Cruz in 1984, where she has remained. Years later, this is her first album made in Brazil. Villela has gained recognition in California and beyond as an intrepid improviser with a beautiful voice who creates captivating live shows. With Cartas ao Vento, she changes direction, focusing on composing. "I wanted everything to be part of the song," she explains, "to get away from the solo as a virtuoso statement."

She wrote all of the pieces, including lyrics for six, and set poetry by Celia Malheiros, Ana Christina Cesar, Mário Quintana, and Ramon Palomares for the remainder. Featured on the album are high-school friends who have gone on to have admirable musical careers, including bassist

Jorge Helder

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Jorge Helder, drummer

Marcelo Costa

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Marcelo Costa, and arranger-guitarist

Mario Adnet

" data-original-title="" title="">Mario Adnet, along with such other distinguished musicians as guitarists

Romero Lubambo

guitar
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Romero Lubambo and

Toninho Horta

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Toninho Horta, flutist-saxophonist

Edu Neves

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Edu Neves, and accordionist

Vitor Gonçalves

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Vitor Gon?alves.

The title cut, "Cartas ao Vento" (Letters to the Wind) sets the tone. Commissioned by San Jose Jazz's Jazz Aid Fund during the pandemic, it premiered in their New Works Fest (2021). "Cartas ao Vento is about saudade," Villela explained. Lyrics reference a suitcase packed for a homeward journey, thoughts of family and friends, a hammock. The quintessentially Brazilian sound of the cuica identifies the track from the intro, mingled with Gon?alves' reflective accordion. The piece releases into a gently rolling samba at the head and concludes with the whistled call of a uirapuru, an endangered Amazon rainforest wren. (See YouTube teaser, bottom of page.)

When improvising, Villela describes an altered state, a sort of trance wherein she "channels" memories: the voice of the bottle collector on the street where she grew up, the "lullaby" of the samba bateria rehearsing behind her grandmother's house. For a taste of this, check her improvisation on

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Stone Flower" (SF Jazz YouTube 2019). She channels a blind man in the neighborhood, a specific figure from her youth.

Analogously, remembered musical voices seem to flow in and out of her compositions. "Chorinho pra Elas," for instance, nods to

Hermeto Pascoal

flute
b.1936

" data-original-title="" title="">Hermeto Pascoal's "Chorinho pra Ele." Some of her best work on Cartas ao Vento sets existing poetry. One of the most striking tracks on the album is her setting of "Instrumento" by Mário Quintana, Brazil's "poet of simple things."

Zé Nogueira

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Zé Nogueira's duduk dominates, resonating in the chest. The timbre of this Armenian double-reed aerophone, this 'apricot tree pipe,' is haunting. Combined with her alto-register minor-mode melody, the ostinato bass, and tresillo rhythmic underpinning, the feel she creates is akin to Ladino repertoire of Israeli singer

Yasmin Levy

" data-original-title="" title="">Yasmin Levy. The lines, "I am not the music, I am an instrument" resonate with experiences Villela has described, when she feels she is a medium for the music.

Cartas ao Vento is a wonderful album, a program of engaging songs performed by outstanding musicians, well worth repeated spins.

Learn more about our star rating system

Personnel

Claudia Villela

vocals

Marcelo Costa

percussion

Jorge Helder

bass, acoustic

Toninho Horta

guitar

Romero Lubambo

guitar

Edu Neves

woodwinds

Zé Nogueira

woodwinds

Vitor Gon?alves

piano

Album information

Title: Cartas ao Vento | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Taina Music

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Dena DeRose: No More Detours Ahead
< Previous

Jorma Tapio, Jose Lencastre & Robert...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.