Claudia Villela seizes your ears with her extraordinary voice, a voluptuous instrument that can caress vowels with a velvet purr or deliver consonants with the percussive snap and rattle of a pandeiro. But the Brazilian-born singer is also a capaciously inventive composer with a luminous body of songs that serve as ideal vehicles for her vocal flights. The longtime Bay Area resident performs with several fellow Rio transplants, including pianist/arranger Marcos Silva and guitarist/composer Ricardo Peixoto. They’ll be joined by a special guest or two from California Brazil Camp’s faculty. Over the years, Villela has recorded with jazz masters such as tenor sax titan Michael Brecker, harmonica legend Toots Thielemans, and piano maestro Kenny Werner, who’s one of the artists featured on her latest album, Encantata Live. 

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