Maria Puga Lareo

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she began her professional career in her early twenties by singing in the culturally rich city’s clubs, theaters, and at jazz festivals. In 2000, the popular Fox Sports TV program Limite 4x4, broadcast in over 25 countries, asked Maria to co-write and sing their title theme. In 2005, she released her self-produced debut album, Body and Soul, and followed in 2011 with Facetas, which was recorded both in New York and Buenos Aires with arrangements by multi-GRAMMY-winning pianist-arranger-conductor Carlos Franzetti and featuring legendary bassist Eddie Gómez, jazz producer Fernando Gelbard on flute, Ed Uribe on drums, Latin GRAMMY-winning guitarist Quique Sinesi and pianist Frank Collett. Celebrated in Argentina and particularly well-received in Japan, Facetas also received positive acclaim from Arturo Sandoval, Lalo Schifrin, and Jorge Calandrelli, among others.

While some of her first venues abroad included the Manna House Theatre in Harlem, Saint Peter’s Church (aka the Jazz Church) in midtown Manhattan, and The Bernice Brooks tv show, Puga Lareo also gave performances at the Symphony Hall of the Kraków Filharmonia, the Jazz Nad Odra Festival in Wrocław, and Poland Tour with Kuba Stankiewicz International Quartet. She worked with French film music composer and pianist, Jean-Michel Bernard, acclaimed Polish pianist Andrzej Jagodzinski’s Trio in Buenos Aires, with Chilean jazz fusion legend Roberto Lecaros and The Lecaros Clan in Chile, and Robert Anchipolovsky at a concert in Tel Aviv.

Citing such singers as Gal Costa, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall as major influences, Puga Lareo has developed a hybrid style that easily embraces the nuances of both Brazilian music and jazz.  “I’ve been immersed in music my entire life and there are so many sounds and musical dialects swimming inside my head,” she explained. “My dad used to play jazz records at the breakfast table when I was a baby, but my real discovery of jazz happened much later as an adult. There is also a strong classical history from my mother’s side of the family. Going to the Opera House since I was a very small girl had a huge impact on me.”

While still in Buenos Aires, Maria recorded Bob Telson’s Bagdad Cafe’s theme “Calling You,” which began a close musical partnership with the Academy Award, Pulitzer, Tony, and GRAMMY nominee. Together they enjoyed sold-out shows performing Telson’s various compositions that Maria describes as treasures and which had been sung in the past by such illustrious vocalists as Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Joe Cocker, k.d. Lang, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and George Michael. Significant in her collaborations with Telson is their duet on “Show Me Your Face,” which also features Wynton Marsalis on trumpet.

After relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, Puga Lareo’s career was dramatically interrupted by a breast cancer diagnosis. She forged through that very fierce battle and emerged cancer-free, subsequently performing and recording with an inner circle of L.A.’s premiere jazz musicians, including the Nan Schwartz Ensemble, Bobby Shew Quintet, John Beasley, Bill Cunliffe, Mitch Forman, Larry Koonse, Gary Novak, Darek Oles, Alan Pasqua, Otmaro Ruiz and Arturo Sandoval, as well as her current band members Josh Nelson, Mike Valerio, Christian Euman and Leo Amuedo.

Maria and renowned L.A. saxophonist Bob Sheppard met at the birthday party of a mutual friend and instantly hit it off. They were later married on August 9, 2017, and have been collaborating in life and on musical projects ever since.

Sheppard co-produced and is prominently featured on My Universe, engaging in some spirited call-and-response with his wife on a swinging rendition of the jazz standard “The Song Is You,” matching her scatting abandon stride-for-stride on a Nan Schwartz arrangement of “We’ll Be Together Again,” and riding over a power horn, funk original “At the End of the Night.”  

“This was truly a fun project for me because I don’t get a chance to produce that often,” said Bob Sheppard. “I’ve been working in the studios for over 30 years, played on a ton of records, so I’m very at home in this setting. I quickly had to learn to trust Maria’s intuition rather than control things in the way that I knew. Maria had her own sensibilities and process. ! Once I was able to trust that her instincts were so damn good, we really started to flow. So, while I might have done the arranging -- the actual technical part of it -- Maria’s choices were totally brilliant to me. I assisted in many ways but her primal nature of what she wanted to hear musically, truly define this record. What a great opportunity to make music together with my Maria.”  As for the album title of Puga Lareo’s third self-produced release, Sheppard said, “Maria picked that title, and I think it’s well-chosen because it really reflects her broad musical influences. So, it surely is ‘her universe’.”

Blending a variety of styles on My Universe came naturally for the singer-co-producer and cancer survivor. As Maria explained, “I was wondering if the song choices were going to blend in together or not, because there’s many different moods, and that’s really my personality. I don’t like to be boxed into just one thing or to pretend like I’m something I’m not. Instead, I just wanted it to be authentic to what I love and how I feel music. That’s important to me — authenticity in my music and in my life.” 

“I feel music is very spiritual in my case.” Puga Lareo furthers, “It’s not that cerebral or that calculated, it’s a true expression of my heart and my soul. For me, music is a place of healing, of beauty, of spirituality and harmony. That’s all I want.”