To experience Eliane Elias in concert is to understand the notion of temporary bliss.
With a career spanning forty years, this famed jazz pianist from Sao Paulo is an international treasure. Undoubtedly one of the finest musicians of our day, she is a singer, composer and arranger with a sound rooted in the samba of Brazil.
Elias began performing as a teen and was invited by her fellow countryman and idol, Antonio Carlos Jobim to tour. Eventually, she moved to New York and became a member of the innovative jazz fusion group Steps Ahead. Elias remained with the band for one year before embarking on a solo career that has amassed 24 recordings to date.
Her performance this week at New York City's Birdland is the perfect blend of Bossa, American Jazz standards and original compositions. Her newest record, I Thought About You is a tribute to trumpeter-vocalist Chet Baker. Explaining to the audience how Baker's vocal and instrumental phrasing is the very essence of Bossa Nova, Elias says, "he was capable of singing lyrically and without vibrato, with the melody traveling through the harmony." The band performed the title track, led by the outstanding Graham Dechter on guitar. Performed without drums, "This Can't Be Love" displayed a great harmonic dynamic between piano and guitar. Another standard, "Embraceable You", began so simply on piano and then moved into a Bossa that Elias sang in English.
In the true style of Bossa singing, Ms. Elias' vocal delivery is pure, honest and simple -- a stark contrast to her wild and complex piano talent that is so thrilling and intoxicating. Elias and her band (completed by legendary bassist, Marc Johnson and superb Brazilian drummer, Rafael Barata) performed several Brazilian classics including the epic "Rosa Morena" and the playful "Bananeira".
Elias closed with her gorgeous original composition, "The Time Is Now" but was called back to the stage when the audience rose from their seats, begging for more. Her encore, "Gordurinha" completed the perfect set.
Eliane Elias is divine. She is masterful at engaging an audience, not just with her talent but with her stories and anecdotes of each of her selections. She welcomes you to her world and convinces you she can be your best girlfriend, your muse, your lover, your sister, your confidant. She is the goddess mother earth as temptress. And like her presence, her music is all at once strong, vulnerable, seductive and celestial.
Eliane Elias plays at Birdland through December 6.
