The Extraordinary Claudia Villela

Onstage, Brazilian jazz musician Claudia Villela is not just brave, she is well known for her willingness to go anywhere with her voice. Based in the Bay Area, Claudia lights up stages all over the country and abroad. We caught up with her at Kuumbwa Jazz in Santa Cruz and had the honor of toasting her brilliant talent with her very first dry martini.

FrancescaBay: Claudia, the New York Times has described your voice as “Remarkable, beautiful, towering,” the Boston Globe has described you as “An extraordinary singer in any context,” Jazz Times has described you as, “A female Bobby McFerrin." Stylistically, your voice encompasses samba, bossa nova, jazz, scat and beyond. It is one of the most original voices in Brazilian Jazz. Where did you get this voice?

CLAUDIA: My father gave me a pianola when I was one year old and my mother was always singing. My father played the harmonica, too. I went to piano lessons when I was five years old and I didn’t last long at all. Not even a month because the teacher would be spanking my hands. And because I had my pianola and I played whatever I wanted. And I was never put down by anybody. Nobody ever said, Do this, or Do that. I was actually shy. But if I can be in that space I’m not afraid at all of just being in the moment and making that moment sacred. It’s not like I practiced for years and studied. I’m like the cats of Istanbul, or the wolves that just run free….When I am in a good frame of mind, I sing. My brain is very excitable and my good thing can be my bad thing too, if you understand. If I am truly riled up and too many things are going on, then I get unfocused, such as if there are problems with wardrobe, or who to leave the dog with! So if I am focused I just get out of the way and I let it happen. 

FB: What musicians have had an influence on you singular singing style?

CLAUDIA: Many, many different people. And sometimes its good and sometimes it works against me. I was just thinking about that because right now I want to start work on a new album. My influencers —it’s more than just the sound of the voice, it's the music they play. The voices I love, one of the best voices on the planet is Elis Regina.  I am doing a tribute to her at SF Jazz in July. There are folk singers all around the world….Milton Nascimento for sure, many jazz singers like Nina Simone, Bille Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Joni Mitchell. My mom. All singers have a place in my world. I like Maria Callas, too.

FB: That way you scat is inimitable. Where does this come from?

CLAUDIA: You know when you are a kid, that’s what you do. You are improvising with whatever you hear and I guess I just capped that. It’s almost like a spiritual trance. Like I said, I just get out of the way and your brain is just in that moment. For example, there are two parts to singing. One is like, okay I was born with my mom’s voice. And she had a beautiful voice but never studied or anything. Okay, so physiologically I was born with a wide range.

FB: You are known to have a five octave range.

CLAUDIA: Yes but getting older, I cannot say that anymore (laughter). What I am trying to say is one side of singing there is the creation. The mystery. The other side is left brain. It has the whole structure, formal training. I can be a very terrible singer, you know what I mean? If I am not in that element of being who I am, I can’t... I have to be who I am. I don't know how to name it. It’s a different kind of approach. Say that you are in love, you are not doing that, it’s going through you, it just comes. It is like intuition, there is some force that’s going through you. I can't name it.

FB: How did you define yourself as a singer when you were starting out?

CLAUDIA: Well I think the fact that I am Brazilian, that is a great label, a great introduction. Ah! She is Brazilian! Oh, I like her already. That opened doors. But I remember I would do something different, some weird sound, and they were like, Oh don't do that you are so pretty. (laughter). And then, you know, I would ask…should I do this? Noo! Whatever. So I guess back then I would say, okay, all right, but I just did whatever. There’s no time for that.  But I produce all of my albums myself so I have freedom. The one time I had a label we did some pictures and I had my legs crossed and over here, there is a shadow, and to the eye it was like a magnet. They were going to release it with shadow in it and I said, No. I had the picture photoshopped and they were so mad. So you know what? Goodbye. And then another manager said, You are going to be my golden girl!  Um, no.

FB: You answered my next question. Because you are known as a very beautiful and sensual singer, did that make it hard for you to be taken seriously when you were starting out?

CLAUDIA: I think I never took myself seriously. Me, myself. But now I am thinking, my kids are grown, I write music, so now I have to put myself out there again. When I do people say, Oh my god, I never heard anything like that. What is that? I love that! But I am a Virgo so I need to organize my house first. (laughter) I do get turned off by people telling me what to do: You are too this, You are too that. I play with well-trained, well studied musicians so when they see somebody who is like me, who does it intuitively, they don’t sometimes like that. Some, not all. Some love it. I’m gonna tell you a story about this but I’m not gonna tell you who it was. I was playing the piano with the band, the songs I wanted to play. We were doing the sound check, and I play piano in my concerts sometimes. So the pianist came late and was trying to push me off the bench and I said, No, I’m gonna play those songs. And you know what he told me? If I knew you were playing I wouldn’t have come. It's the same thing, when somebody who is beautiful just gets by on their sex appeal. You don't like that either. But I got so disgusted. And I said No! I am going to play! But then I get nervous and I don't play well, because I am very dependent and so sensitive.

FB: Who would you like to record with?

CLAUDIA: Pat Metheny, Micheal Brecker. He played on my album. But I want to play with him live. It’s not the same when it’s in the recording studio. I came in first and recorded, then he came in after the fact, instead of recording together, improvising in the moment. Chick Corea, Mike Stern, Hermeto Pascoal, Guinga, Egberto Gismonti, Milton Nascimento, Nino Rota, and more.

FB: What is your next music adventure?

CLAUDIA: I would like to record with a big orchestra. I would love to do different arrangements of old stuff, root wise. Maybe some bolero. But also some new music. I like the song from the Fifth Element. But I don’t want to do something that exists already, I would much rather have a white canvas where I could improvise. I love good music and I love to understand what is expressive and what feeds people’s souls. Any kind of meaningful and fun project with great musicians is my most desired adventure.

FB: What kind of music do you listen to?

CLAUDIA: I listen to everything,  I am very omnivorous in terms of music, and I listen to stuff that I need to study for concerts. When people ask me to do a tribute to somebody, then I study that. I really like strange sounds, music from all over the world, especially from indigenous people. Music that brings that window to what we have such a hard time expressing otherwise. Beethoven is my hero. I love Mozart's spirit. Bach and its elegance...but I love Ravel, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and of course, Villa Lobos.

FB: What are your thoughts about Rio today?

CLAUDIA: I go to Brazil at least three times a year to see my mom. Brazil as a country is just so vast and wonderful. I have a place in Rio and my mother and brother are there. First of all there are many Brazils. People there connect, just like everywhere. But I don't feel safe there. And I am always pulled from here to there, then back to here, it's hard.

FB: What’s a day in your life like musically?

CLAUDIA: There are days that I don't do anything and there are days where I play music all day long. There are different instruments in the house, and if I am recording stuff at home, I will play guitar and piano. When I am improvising at home I could play all the instruments, the piano, accordion, guitar, hand percussion instruments, kalimba. My days are always filled by music. I hear music everywhere, all the time. My brain is always making connections, as I can see the subtitles of any conversation going concomitantly. It's a weird thing, I know, and I wish I could do that in transcribing music as fast.

Claudia Villela will be releasing a double live album, Claudia Villela Live, July 2017. Her schedule can be found on her website: 

—July 15th Claudia Villela duo with Vitor Gonçalves, TBA, Seattle WA.


—July 21st Claudia Villela  Quintet a tribute to Elis Regina at SF JAZZ , San Francisco CA.
 Tickets San Francisco Jazz Festival

—August 13 San Jose Jazz Festival, San Jose CA.




—Kimberly Wainscoat