Luciana Souza

You'd think Luciana Souza would have it all for major jazz stardom. This Brazilian singer combines the perfect pitch and sensitive feel of Elis Regina with the Post Bop jazz explorations of Cassandra Wilson. To top it all off, her natural beauty is a marketer's dream. Perhaps Souza's deep understanding of Brazilian and North American musical forms hurts her, as does all the space she allows for her (always excellent) musicians to solo. Like the often overlooked Joyce, she has more of an overt improvisatory edge than most artists associated with Bossa Nova. Forget about labels, Souza proves that cutting edge music can be beautiful music -- and the music she makes is seldom less than beautiful.