Leny Andrade, known as the first lady of Brazilian jazz, has died in Rio de Janeiro. Andrade was a percussive, samba-driven improviser, an interpreter as worldly-wise as Édith Piaf and a consummate nightclub artist. With a thick, husky voice seasoned by cigarette smoke and late hours, Andrade sang torridly of love; she could also swing as hard as any American jazz singer. Her career spanned 65 years, during which she made fans of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie and many more illustrious contemporaries.
Andrade died of Lewy body dementia on July 24. The news was shared with NPR by Eliana Peranzzetta, who, with her husband, the arranger and pianist Gilson Peranzzetta, had cared for Andrade for several years. She was 80.
