Luciana Souza's first solo album was
An Answer to Your Silence (NYC Records, 1999).
The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (Sunnyside Records, 2000) was fifth place in The New York Times' 2000 The Year in Pop and Jazz: The Critics' Choice list. In 1991, she was elected Discovery of the Year by APCA for her work with
Hermeto Pascoal. In the next year, she toured with the Zimbo Trio. In 1995, she was nominated for Outstanding Latin Act and, in the next year, Outstanding Jazz Vocalist at the Boston Music Awards. Among the artists she has been performing and recording with are her godfather,
Hermeto Pascoal;
Danilo Perez;
Zimbo Trio;
David Kikoski;
Joey Calderazzo;
Romero Lubambo;
Guillermo Klein;
Oscar Castro-Neves;
Cyro Baptista;
the Paul Winter Consort; Ben Sher Group;
Steve Lacy;
Kenny Wheeler;
Donald Brown;
John Patitucci;
Kenny Werner;
Osvaldo Golijov;
Bob Moses; and
George Garzone. From a musical family (her parents are
Walter Santos and
Tereza Souza),
Souza has been involved with music since her childhood, when she worked with jingles. After four years at Unicamp University in Brazil, she went to the Berklee College of Music, where she received a bachelor's degree in jazz composition. She received a master's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. In 2009,
Souza released
Tide her first album for Verve and her second collaboration with husband and producer
Larry Klein. ~ Alvaro Neder, All Music Guide