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Eliane Elias: Made in Brazil - Swung at Birdland
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
Eliane Elias is a paradox. An artist of rare talent, experience, and range, she is a keyboard master with few peers whose deep musicality transcends genre. An astonishing singer, composer, arranger, and songwriter, her performances are celebrated for their swing, lyricism, and unique sound. Elias is also a beautiful woman with long blond hair who's been known to kick off her stiletto heels to play the piano barefoot. I expect some people will have difficulty reconciling the pin-up cover of ...
Continue ReadingEliane Elias at Birdland Jazz Club
by Ernest Barteldes
Eliane Elias Birdland Jazz Club New York, NY April 11, 2015 On the last night of her residence at New York City's Birdland Jazz Club, pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias focused on Brazilian music and tunes from Made in Brazil (Concord, 2015), released earlier that week. The set opened with an instrumental take on “Ladeira da Preguiça," a Gilberto Gil composition popularized by Elis Regina in the early 1970s. Elias' take was fast-paced, with flurries of notes ...
Continue ReadingEliane Elias: The Authenticity of the Groove
by R.J. DeLuke
"I was 22 years old and I told Toots Thielemans that I had some tunes I'd like him to listen to," says Eliane Elias, the Brazilian-born pianist, a child prodigy who rose to the upper echelons of music during her time in the United States. The discussion with the famed harmonica player came during a rehearsal in the 1980s. Bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Al Foster were there. They started in playing her tune “Moments." “We would get ...
Continue ReadingEliane Elias: Made In Brazil
by Jeff Winbush
If you've never been to Brazil, consider Eliane Elias as a goodwill ambassador with Made In Brazil. It is a triumphant return for the pianist/vocalist to her native land to record her first album there since relocating to the United States in 1981. There is a delicacy to how Elias chooses and approaches the material. There is no genuflecting to pop music as there was on Light My Fire (Concord, 2011). Here Elias is all about adult emotions ...
Continue ReadingEliane Elias at Birdland
by Ernest Barteldes
Eliane EliasBirdland New York, NYMay 31, 2013 On the fourth night of her weeklong residence at Birdland, pianist Eliane Elias opened her set with an original number, its bluesy nature recalling the work of recently deceased pianist Dave Brubeck. The number gave her quartet--bassist Marc Johnson, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Mauricio Zotarelli--plenty of opportunity to stretch out, with quite a few improvised moments. Elias' quartet continued with “There Will Never Be Another ...
Continue ReadingEliane Elias: I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker
by C. Michael Bailey
It is tempting to consider Chet Baker hommages like Jeff Baker's excellent Baker Sings Chet (OA2, 2004) or John Proulx's sublime Baker's dozen: Remembering Chet Baker (MAXJAZZ, 2009) superior to the real item. So fractured is our picture of Baker that our full appreciation of him is clouded by his extra-musical proclivities. But it is not exactly that. Baker's vibratoless trumpet and vocals, as well as, his limited technical abilities are acquired tastes, but once acquired are generally rewarding to ...
Continue ReadingMarc Johnson - Eliane Elias: Swept Away
by AAJ Italy Staff
La pianista Eliane Elias è nota da tempo sui palcoscenici internazionali, a cominciare dalla sua collaborazione con i leggendari Steps Ahead all'inizio degli anni '80. Dalla bossa nova con cui è cresciuta ai tanti album da leader, sia come pianista che cantante, l'artista brasiliana ha saputo consolidare le proprie credenziali anche grazie ai numerosi dischi incisi per la Blue Note. Dopo la sua partecipazione in Shades of Jade (ECM) del contrabbassista e compagno di vita Marc Johnson, Swept Away rappresenta ...
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