Sol Negro

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[16]
Robert Christgau	B−[17]
Edmonton Journal	[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[18]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide	[19]

JazzTimes wrote that "Rodrigues’s contralto voice is otherwordly, spiritual, exquisite."^[12] Robert Christgau noted that she "never stretches her rich, Ella-like highs into a scat—though the few midtempo numbers have a nice jazzy lilt ... her instincts are exceedingly solemn."^[17] Rolling Stone stated: "The ancient and the modern, the secular and the sacred seamlessly mingle in this document of Brazilian musical forms."^[20]

Miami New Times deemed the album "a simultaneously somber and uplifting cycle of songs focused on the African experience in Brazil."^[21] The New York Times concluded that "the record is both modern and roots-conscious in the best ways that Brazilians know how to be: it swings from Roman Catholic church music to carnaval sambas, ancient Afro-Brazilian drum patterns to sophisticated wind-and-string arrangements, all sculpted with delicate care."^[22] The Chicago Tribune considered Sol Negro to be the eighth best album of 1998.^[23]

AllMusic wrote that Rodrigues's "first major recording succeeds in juxtaposing her ability to carry both lilting Brazilian rhythms and slow harmonious melodies.^[16]