Abelita Mateus

Abelita Mateus is a Brazilian pianist, singer, and composer whose music fuses the samba and bossa nova of her native Sao Paulo with contemporary jazz. She began on classical piano as a teenager before turning to jazz, and in Brazil she performed with leading musicians including Hermeto Pascoal, Raul de Souza, and Vinicius Dorin. She moved to New York in 2012 and earned a master's degree in jazz performance at William Paterson University. Her debut album Vivenda (2017), produced by guitarist Romero Lubambo, reached number 24 on the JazzWeek charts, and her second album, Mixed Feelings, followed in 2018. Mateus has also served as pianist for the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience, led by John Lee, and leads her own trio on the New York jazz scene.