Claudia Villela’s haunting improvisations, and her surprising five-octave range, have earned her an enthusiastic and devoted following drawn to the magical dimensions of her singing. Villela’s independent spirit and her gift for evoking her rich musical heritage have made her develop into one of the most astonishing vocalists in jazz. As San Francisco Examiner critic Phil Elwood put it, Villela actually dances with her voice on top of Brazilian beats.

As a child growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Claudia Villela would fall asleep at night listening to the sounds of a samba school practicing behind her grandmother’s home. “I woke up to the melodies of my mother singing while my father played the harmonica,” she recalls. “My music is the sum of all the sounds I’ve heard, from Brazilian macumba, to free-form jazz, to European classical. It comes from all those memories.”

Villela’s musical education began early. She received from her parents an accordion-like pianola on her first birthday, and was soon composing her first songs. She started performing around Rio as a teenager, as well as doing studio work, and composing and improvising music for award-winning movie soundtracks. At the same time, she was strongly drawn to medicine, and eventually decided to merge her two passions, graduating with a degree in music therapy from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music in 1983.

Treating patients with music made Villela realize the shamanic side of musical sound. “I was always fascinated with the link between psychology and physiology, the healing aspect of music. Intuition is so important. To this day, when I’m singing, I go to the emotion, the power that moves people; I’m looking for real moments of connection.”

In 1984 Claudia moved to California and was soon active in its music scene. She began singing with the Stanford University Chorus, and joined the De Anza College Jazz Singers, who won first prize in Down Beat’s vocal jazz competition. She won a number of scholarships, including one to study with jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan at New York’s Manhattan School of Music, and one to study with John Robert Dunlap of the New York Metropolitan Opera. With her debut recording, 1994’s Asa Verde, Villela emerged as a gifted songwriter. Her 1996 album Supernova enlisted the talents of musical heavyweights Michael Brecker, Harvie Swartz, Danny Gottlieb and Toninho Horta. She also recorded Dream Tales, an improvised live-in-studio duo album with pianist Kenny Werner. Her continuing work with guitarist/ composer Ricardo Peixoto has yielded the CD Inverse Universe, featuring Toots Thielemans.

In 1997, she was nominated for Jazz Singer of the Year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD). Mark Holston of Jazziz described Villela as “intelligent and seductive.” And according to Helcio Milito, one of the fathers of the bossa nova, Claudia is the biggest expression of Brazilian music in the U.S. today.