Hearsay: Claudia Villela

In the opening seconds of Dreamtales (Adventure), the new recording by vocalist Claudia Villela and pianist Kenny Werner, she’s heard saying, “Let’s go for it.” The two had no set songs and no previously agreed-upon structure or strategy; they just started playing to see what would happen.

“I’m a composer, and I like to set up things, write lyrics and all,” Villela says by phone from her home near Santa Cruz, Calif. “But I feel more human, more magical and more connected in an improvised setting. We turned on the microphones and stopped when it was over. It was like silk.”