By Wayne Zade

AAJ: Can you tell me about your childhood experience with music in Brazil?

EE: I was very fortunate to grow up in a very musical environment. A very musical family. My mother played classical piano, and she loved jazz, so jazz was part of the house. It was played at home all the time. And bossa nova was really starting to happen. During the‘60s. So I had the opportunity to really grow up with that movement. Which was wonderful! I started my formal training when I was seven years old, as most children do. Then, very quickly I went through in a couple of months what other students before me took two years to learn. The talent became very apparent to the teachers and to my parents--I mean, I didn’t know anything about that.

But I had a tremendous love for the piano since a very young age. And I learned to write music as well, very young. By the age of ten, or 11, I was so in love with jazz that I would transcribe solos by Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Nat “King” Cole. I would transcribe what they played and also play along with the records. Two years later, by the time I was about 12, I had a really large repertoire of jazz standards. This was something quite unusual, especially in Brazil.

AAJ: Did you mostly listen to records, or did you see jazz artists in clubs?

EE: No, no, records. All records. And records were not easy to find because importation in Brazil was not an easy subject. You could not import. So I was fortunate to have those records through my father, who travelled and who would bring them home. I grew up in a very special way, having that much jazz to listen to--more than an average American child would hear! It was great.

When I was 12 years old, almost 13, my mother took me to the finest school of music we have in Brazil. In Sâo Paulo. I was accepted at the school, and my teacher then was Amilton Godoy. I pretty much finished the whole program and graduated by the time I was 15. Then I started teaching at the school. So by that young age, I had defined already what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do. Now that I look back, I see that it was so wonderful, to be so young and have the focus and know what you want. It’s so hard for the young people to answer the questions: What do I like? What am I interested in?

That was really a blessing for me. My life was really practicing, learning, growing with the instrument, and that’s what made me happy. But basically, that’s all I did. When I was young, I played both jazz and classical music. And Brazilian composers. I had all those different elements. I had the classical training, but I did not have aspirations to become a classical pianist. My purpose always was, when I was that age, to study classical music, to develop my technique, my sonority, and to be able to execute the ideas that I wanted to, as well as explore the great composers. So much music has been written for the piano, it’s just infinite what you can do with it. But my intentions really were to be a jazz player. That’s what I liked. I liked improvising, I liked spontaneous creating, and I didn’t have the same satisfaction in playing classical music. I did enjoy playing it, but mostly you are attached to the part and your contribution is your interpretation. Yes, there is room for interpretation, but I like to create!

AAJ: Were you singing then?

EE: No. Here and there, in Brazil, maybe. If I was playing in a club, maybe I would sing one tune. But my interest was never focused on the voice; it was always on the piano. The voice is something that I have, through the years, incorporated into my recordings and my concerts. The voice sometimes seems like a color, or an effect, almost like an instrument playing a certain melody evolving with the piano. Then I started just to have one song on a CD, sporadically having something there that I would sing. I found myself not only enjoying singing very much, but also being asked, “Oh, are you going to sing? Please sing!” I slowly started to do more and more.

AAJ: I don’t know if I’m going to jump ahead a lot here, but when did you first come to New York?

EE: I came to New York in 1981. When I tell people my first impressions of New York, they usually laugh. I say I thought it was a cute little town. I saw the little streets, the numbers. And I come from Sâo Paulo, which is such a huge metropolis. It’s so incredible. Here everything seems so close. So I thought New York was a very nice little city. Almost like I had arrived in DisneyWorld. So I was not intimidated by New York at all. But I did not speak English, not much, just a little bit from school. I came as a tourist, so I had to pursue what I wanted to do. The way things happened, they just fell into place. I remember back so beautifully, almost like when you look at a puzzle, before it’s completed, and you see all the pieces, and then you understand everything. It was really, well, I just think it’s a very nice story. And I like to share it, because, as I said, I came here without knowing the language, not knowing anyone, really.

But I had met Eddie Gomez in Europe, in Paris briefly. He heard me play, and he gave me his number, but he was always on the road. So I just came to New York on my own. I didn’t know anybody. And I purposely did not mix with the Brazilians--not because I didn’t love Brazilian music or I didn’t want to be with the people, but I just had my own instinct that I shouldn’t go into the Brazilian thing because I would have been labeled. So I never got into the Brazilian group of people. They used to play certain clubs and Brazilian music. But I went right for what I always wanted to do and what I always knew myself to be: a jazz player. Of course, I play Brazilian too, but jazz is what I wanted to do. I went into the clubs and participated in a few jam sessions and some things changed for me. I was invited to work with different musicians, like Bob Moses, Jim Pepper. I ended up with Steps Ahead, and that was very good national exposure. I was with the Mingus Dynasty Band. Then I co-led a group with Randy Brecker, who was my husband for many years. And then it was time to start my solo career.

At that time, I was signed by Bruce Lundvall, as well as by a Japanese record company, Denon. They had CDs--this was when the first CDs came out. Blue Note had LPs and cassettes. So I made two recordings with the association of Blue Note and Denon: one was Illusions, the other one was Crosscurrents. Both of those did very well--those were the first recordings, and the reviews were fantastic. Both went to #1. I continued with Blue Note, and I’m always proud to say that I’m the longest-signed artist since the revival of Blue Note in 1984! It’s really wonderful to be with a company that many years.

AAJ: When did you start to tour outside of New York?

EE: About six months after I moved to New York, in 1982, around that time I was touring with Steps Ahead. We went to Europe too. But I had toured a lot even before that in South America, from 1978-80, with Toquinho and Vinicius de Moraes, who was the lyricist with Jobim, a great poet, a great diplomat, the man who was responsible for half the success of those tunes with what he wrote. I mean, really great lyrics. I had the pleasure of working with them until Vinicius died. So I was very associated with bossa nova people when I was in Brazil. The touring had started back then. But after I moved to the U.S., I started touring the country in 1982, and Europe as well. And Japan, I went for the first time in 1985.

AAJ: Can you compare for me the audiences in South America, Europe, and Japan? Do you feel differences in the different audiences?

EE: Yes, I do. The audiences are different. They have some things in common, which ultimately is an appreciation for the music. That is always there, and it always shows. But it shows in different ways. The audiences express themselves differently. For example, I really love playing in Europe. In Europe, often I feel so comfortable to just explore. The audiences are so willing, so there with you, that I just really get extremely creative; they invite me to it. Some of the very special things that I have done--they seem always to come up on concerts there. The audiences are there, exploring with you. There is a certain atmosphere in which you feel at ease and you feel that communication with the audience. A kind of sympathy. It’s really very inspiring.

Brazil? I must say--how would you say it? I’m “suspect.” I’m not the person to talk about it. Of course, they love me very much. For example, I was just there two months ago, and I thought I’d been thrown into the mouths of lions. I was playing a few concerts, at the beach, with thousands of people. And this concert had some of the major singers, composers--they were the big headliners, and I was included. But I had to go in between a singer who sings North music like forro--they sing like the very rhythmical- carnival-everybody’s dancing and another who sings and everybody’s dancing--and then I come with instrumental trio music, the “Eliane Elias Trio.” And I said, “Oh, my God.” They’re all excited, they’re all dancing. But you wouldn’t believe this audience. There was then complete silence, and they were so with me! Every note, every emotion I had, and they would clap. They were so there. I just have to say it was wonderful. The people in Brazil are really starving to hear good music. Many times I think the media do not play a lot of the great things. They may think the Brazilian people are not prepared. But you would be surprised! I was surprised. Those concerts were free admission, with all kinds of people there, many who never had much exposure to instrumental music, and how they loved it! It’s a very musical country; Brazilians are very musical people. I enjoy playing there very much.

And then playing in Japan--I also enjoy it very much. But the audiences respond in a different way. It seems to me that they are with you all the way through, the same way Europeans are. But the Japanese seem like they almost don’t want to hear even a pin drop. They save all of their energy and everything that they have for when the concert is done, and that’s when usually you get the biggest manifestation of “Yeah!” They don’t want you to go away, they want you back and they want you back! They are paying very close attention. And I must say that I have seen a lot of jazz fans and I can see that the Japanese really love jazz. But if I may also say, how in love they are with Brazilian music! Especially the bossa nova--it’s really wonderful. The Japanese listeners are very sensitive. I sense, and I have talked to different people, that the Japanese primarily are reserved when they hear a lot of emotion in someone else. For example, in things that I have sung, in ballads--they are all about emotion. How they are taken by that! Because it’s something that they are not so accustomed to express or even have rarely seen expressed. How they are touched by it.

I was playing at a club called Indigo Blues. The bassist was Jay Anderson. I don’t remember if the drummer was Jeff Hirshfield or Ben Perowsky--I think it was Ben. During our set, I was going to sing one song. It was a ballad called “Let Me Go.” A very beautiful song. I have a hard time singing it without tears in my eyes. So I start singing it. And when I finished, I knew, because you it--because a musician doesn’t deliver the message every time--but I knew I really delivered the message. I felt it when I finished--and I looked at Jay. He had tears in his eyes. I took my hands off the piano--and there was the silence in the audience. I felt this embarrassment, and Jay held his bass like between his arms and his neck, and he started clapping. He was the only one clapping. And then I looked at the audience--I couldn’t see a lot of people, but in the ones I saw I could see the tears. I went on to the next tune, and I said, “Wow.” But when we got to the end of the night, they wouldn’t let me leave--how many encores I had to do! It was incredible that when I showed that much emotion, they felt it and they stayed completely quiet. It was a connection. Isn’t it something? One heart reaching out to another. It goes beyond words. Beyond language. It’s just something very interesting to me.

Of course, I have played in other situations in Japan, like outdoor festivals, where the audience goes crazy and really lets it out and loves it. Mt. Fuji. Japan has been always wonderful to me, and I love performing there. I love recording for them. My last album, Sings Jobim, was #1 vocal record for three months--vocal, not just in the jazz charts . And there is a TV commercial on which I sang--it was wonderful. It was for Suntory whiskey, and I sang a tune called “The Continental,” which I arranged as a bossa nova I wasn’t on the visual. They had a little drawing of a girl on the guitar, and the guy with a saxophone, which was really Michael Brecker playing. Before me, they had Miles Davis’s music and they had Natalie Cole. So I was the third one. They have this little cat that cries, about the Suntory whiskey, and you see his tears come down. It’s a little cartoon. At the bottom of the screen they show the tune, and what CD it’s from, and the artist. Like a video.

AAJ: Had you heard much from other jazz musicians about Japan before you went there?

EE: I had heard things from Randy and Michael. Randy had been to Japan so many times and he always had a good time there. The first time I went to Japan, I was co-leading a group with him. He said we’d have a great time and we did! Going into the culture, the music, was interesting. We had an association in Japan with Sadao Watanabe. I’ve worked with Sadao several times. He plays Brazilian music wonderfully.

In Japan, I never had much time to see the countryside. The amount of interviews that they have usually set up for me is really unbelievable. Usually in the hotels I get a suite, with one room set up for interviews, at intervals of 20 minutes for the whole day. So many pictures--you know, the Japanese are so much into pictures. So many interviews, one after another, and all with jet lag--that is difficult. I can’t turn 12 hours around that easily. So I haven’t had that much time to do anything that tourists would do. I have done some things, like visiting some temples. I have visited Shinjuku, some different towns, but not a lot. But I always come home with Japanese souvenirs! I have occasionally bought records and CDs over there, things I couldn’t find in the States. The Japanese have everything! I think the store is called J-Wave, one of the stores I used to go to. A big store. Not only that--but the first time I went, I came back with synthesizers; the second time, portable DAT players, cameras. They have everything. Such a temptation! The technology is terrific over there.

AAJ: Can you tell me a little about Mr. Namekata at Toshiba/EMI?

EE: Well, he’s the person whom I have always dealt with. We have a great relationship and have had a relationship since 1989. It’s been 11 years since I recorded my first album for him, which was Plays Jobim. Which, I must admit, was some smart idea that he had. Because it wasn’t my idea. No. Eliane Elias Plays Jobim was an idea that the record company had. They asked, “Would you like to do this?” And at the time, I was coming from doing jazz records, as a jazz player, and I felt a little reluctant. I said I’d have to think about it. I went into researching material and Jobim. The more I did this, the more I said, “I’ve gotta do this! I love this idea!” This was when Jobim was alive. Nothing to do with people who come out with tributes just because he passed away. Nothing to do with that. My tributes to him were when he was alive. So I got together with Jobim and got into some different material and created a lot of things on the tunes that he loved. And it was through Namekata that this came out. It was a record that did extremely well. Then it was released by Blue Note in the States. After that, I ended up doing other records of other Brazilian composers, including Jobim, but not just Jobim. I did Paulistana and Fantasia for Namekata and then I did Sings Jobim. So four of my records that came out on Blue Note were actually done for Namekata.

AAJ: Is there anything else the Japanese love about jazz besides the soulfulness, the deep passion of ballads, we talked about?

EE: Well, sure, they love bebop. If there is a concert and there is bebop on the concert, the people are there because they want to hear it. I always get to see audiences who appreciate the music that is happening right there. They do love bebop. I think they’re into everything. They’re into everything. But there is a part of me that thinks the Japanese love the legends of jazz--you know, that exists a lot. I have heard some musicians saying that they think the Japanese favor electric music, but I think they love both electric and acoustic music. But I have to talk about my experience with the Japanese. The records I made for Japan were always acoustic records. I think they love acoustic music. Their minds get blown away by improvisation and the creativity, by the moment to moment things that happen in jazz. I’ve seen that. But they have the technology and they have all the synthesizers, all the sounds. So there might be a younger generation of players who might want to go into that--everything is there for them to do it. It’s hard not to have that as a strong part of their culture because it’s there!

AAJ: You write your own music. Have you been influenced in any ways by your travels to Japan in what you write?

EE: Usually what influences my writing--my writing mostly happens when I’m at home. I don’t carry a synth with me or anything. These days what influences, inspires, my writing really is more immediate things. Either something visual thing or something that’s happening around me or some emotion or the simple fact of, “OK, I’ve got to do this because that is coming up.” It’s like poetry. But we are open channels, musicians. We absorb things in every place that we go, and with the sensibility that a musician has, being open to things, there’s always something that you take. We’re synthesizing many things. So, can I say that Japan has been a direct influence? No. There’s not a direct influence that you can hear. But even--how do I put this, what do you call them--wind chimes! Well, when that goes going going going, I say, “Ah!” Then I go to the piano. Even that can do something to me. So of course. When you are there in a place, when you have even the visual experience of being in a culture, yeah, it causes you to write in a certain way. So if I come home and I write something new, it may not sound like “Where did this come from?” The pen is basically a way of expressing all the different experiences that I have, things that make an impression on me. So I think indirectly every place I have been, everything that has been part of my life, has influenced my writing.

AAJ: Do you have plans to return to Japan soon?

EE: Oh, yes. I’m going to be recording for Japan early in 2001 and the album should be released early summer. So we’re planning a tour for around the country.

Thinking about touring Japan, I should add here that a drummer I play with regularly is Japanese, Satoshi Takeishi. He is on my record The Three Americas. We’ve been touring quite some time together. He is wonderful. I had to play the Blue Note in Japan and I needed a drummer. Randy suggested I take Satoshi, so I sent all the music to him, without hearing him play, just based on the word of Randy. So Satoshi and I met in Japan. He lives in New York. He used to live in Colombia and played with the symphony there. Then he lived in Miami. So he got a lot of Latin, Brazilian, and jazz. He’s got it all down. He’s so complete. So we played in Japan and since then he’s been my drummer. We have a great time musically and personally. Like many Japanese people, he’s there with you, but he doesn’t force his presence on you. He is very light with you. He’s a person who knows when to speak and when not to speak. He’s a joy. We have a great time together. He’s a wonderful musician and a wonderful person!