Wanda Sá

At age 13, Wanda Sá—also recognized professionally as Wanda de Sah—entered Roberto Menescal’s guitar academy as a student; there Ronaldo Bôscoli discovered her and arranged guest spots on the television programs Dois no Balanço on TV Excelsior and O Fino da Bossa on TV Record. She began her recording career at 19 by releasing Wanda Vagamente in 1964, an album that marked one of Eumir Deodato’s first arranging projects and introduced both the Tom Jobim–Aloysio de Oliveira song “Inútil Paisagem” and the earliest works of Edú Lobo, Francis Hime, and Marcos Valle. The project premiered during a Fino da Bossa presentation at São Paulo’s Paramount Theater, achieved immediate popularity, later enjoyed a Japanese reissue in the 2000s, and yielded the hit “Vagamente” composed by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli.

Before the year ended she became a member of Sérgio Mendes’ Brasil ’65 alongside Rosinha de Valença and Jorge Ben Jor; the ensemble toured successfully throughout Brazil and the United States, where the live album Brasil ’65 was captured with Bud Shank and the Sérgio Mendes Trio. While in the U.S. she also cut the solo album Softly and continued performing with the Sérgio Mendes Trio on both sides of the equator. Returning to Brazil in 1966, she shared stages with Baden Powell, Vinícius de Moraes, Mièle, Luís Carlos Vinhas, and the Bossa 3. In 1969 she appeared on Paul Desmond’s Hot Summer.

From 1969 to 1982, during her marriage to Edú Lobo, she stepped away from public performance. She reemerged in the late 1980s for joint engagements with Roberto Menescal and Mièle, then recorded the 1994 album Brasileiras with Célia Vaz. In 2000 she joined Luís Carlos Vinhas, Tião Neto, and João Cortez to produce the CD Wanda Sá & Bossa Três, which mixed bossa-nova standards with newly written material. Four sold-out runs at Sabbata Tokyo propelled Wanda Vagamente back onto the charts, where it climbed to second position. The following year she joined Roberto Menescal, Marcos Valle, and Danilo Caymmi at the Fare Festival in Pavia, Italy.