Vocalist Luciana Souza just gave Angelenos another reason for hanging around town for the Christmas holidays, as she has made a promise to continue her annual Advent tradition of ending the year with a concert at the very hip Blue Whale jazz club. Teamed up with the digitally dexterous Larry Koonse/g and the foundationally flexible David Piltch/b, Ms. Souza gave the crowd a sumptuous selection of material from her two Grammy-nominated releases that epitomized the essence of telling a musical story.
The two hour set was essentially divided between two moods of songs; agonizing melancholy from the Chet Baker songbook, and celebratory passion and heartfelt romance from the sounds of Brazil. Concerning the former, Souza’s voice was gloriously desultory on “The Thrill is Gone” and pensively reflective during a dreamy and opaque “I Fall In Love Too Easy.” Piltch’s bluesy bass bopped during a very silhouetty “Oh, You Crazy Moon,” while the vocalist accompanied herself on instruments such as the triangle on the hypnotic raga “Forgetful.”
For the South American side of life, Souza’s uncanny clarity of diction on the highly percussive “So Danco Samba” and “O Pato” caused her lyrics to bounce between Koonse’s and Piltch’s strings like a ping pong tournament, while on “Dona Lu” she dueted with Koonse’s serenading guitar to create a bohemian atmosphere similar like a night at Praca XV. She and Koonse’s lachrymal take of the spacious ballad “Rosas Na Falam” reached deep into the viscera before closing the set with a clarion call for sanity during this discomforted season on “Circus Life.” The melding of sonic atmospheres was akin to a large plate of various curries, with the flavors melding together for a sense pleasing feast. Souza and her mates served the Christmas meal to a well satisfied audience, all of whom left feeling well fed.