If João Gilberto is the male bossa-nova whisperer, Rosa Passos is certainly his female peer. Unfortunately, there is way too little biographical material about her online other than she was born in 1952 in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and that at 13, she was inspired to give up the piano for the guitar and a singing career after hearing Gilberto and the music of Dorival Caymmi. Still active today, Passos has recorded with jazz artists such as Kenny Barron and Ron Carter, and she has performed in the U.S. multiple times. If you're out there, Rosa, please email me at [email protected]. [Photo above of Rosa Passos]
Passos began recording in 1978, but many of her albums are out of print or sell her at import prices. To give you a feel for her soft, beautiful, conversational style, here are a few of my favorite Rosa Passos albums up at YouTube. Listen and relax, it's Friday:
Here's the astonishing Festa, from 1993...
Here's Pano pra Manga (1996), with Chico Buarque on the third track and Ivan Lins on the seventh...
Here's O Melhor de Rosa Passos (1997), a "best of" compilation...
And here's Eu e Meu Coração (2001)...
Bonus clips: Here's a mini doc on Passos recording with Henri Salvador...
Here's Passos earlier this year with Rafael Barata...
And here's Passos at the Berklee College of Music in 2017...
For more female Brazilian vocal legends, here are links to my other posts on singers in my ongoing series: Sylvia Telles, Beth Carvalho, Nara Leão, Eliana Pittman, Elis Regina, Ana Mazzotti, Maria Creuza. Elizete Cardoso and Astrud Gilberto.
A special thanks to Irving Greines.
