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March 2, 2004
TT: Words to the wise
The Brazilian-American jazz singer Luciana Souza, in whom "About Last Night" has taken a great interest from its first day onward, has a new CD coming out on April 6 called Neruda. It's a song cycle based on the poetry of Pablo Neruda and featuring Edward Simon on piano.I wrote the liner notes:
If Luciana did nothing more than sing, she'd still be a miracle. But she also writes music, sometimes to her own graceful words, sometimes to those of poets who catch her curious ear. Neruda is an hour-long song cycle based on the poetry of Pablo Neruda and the piano pieces of Federico Mompou, sung in her Brazil-perfumed English (a language she speaks with the freshness and surprise of an explorer charting a new world) and as uncategorizably protean as everything else she does. "House" dances down the street in a sinuous 7/4, spurred on by her own deft percussion playing. "Poetry" has the concentration of an art song by Fauré or Copland. The long melody of "Tonight I Can Write..." unwinds like the slow course of the moon through the night sky....
Neruda will be performed live at Joe's Pub, the cabaret at the Public Theater, on four consecutive Fridays, April 9, 16, 23, and 30. All shows start at 9:30. You can buy tickets here. To make table reservations, call 212-539-8778. Plan ahead--some of these shows will sell out.
For more information about Luciana, go here.
Posted March 2, 2004 12:01 PM
