Eliane Elias ‘Time and Again’ Candid Records



Over the years, the piano has assumed a leading role not just in North American jazz, but in the improvised musics that have originated all over the New World and across the lands of the African Diaspora.&nbsp;



In addition to flourishing at the hands of the great American jazz men born between the 19th century (Jelly Roll Morton) and the 21st (Joey Alexander), the piano has come to represent the jazz of Jamaica (Monty Alexander), Cuba (Chucho Valdés), and Panama (Danilo Pérez). Also, it’s the instrument of numerous New York-based Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican stylists (Eddie Palmieri, Arturo O’Farrill) and even some from mother Africa herself (Abdullah Ibrahim and Boki Dyani).



Born at São Paulo in 1960, Eliane Elias — who has a new album and a 10-show run this week at Birdland — is as fine a representative of Brazilian piano jazz as her country has ever produced. Like Monty Alexander in particular, she is a gifted bandleader and entertainer as well as a keyboard virtuoso. More than her contemporaries listed above, she is also a singer of note, working in the soft, understated Brazilian idiom popularized by both Jaoa Gilberto and Astrid Gilberto.



Ms. Elias also has tangible connections, both real and spiritual, with celebrated American jazzmen like arranger-composer Bob Brookmeyer, who collaborated with her on the classic album “Impulsive!” 25 years ago; Chet Baker, whose influence on the Brazilian singers of her generation is profound and immeasurable; and Bill Evans, whose flexible modal style proved to be surprisingly compatible with pianists working in Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban idioms.&nbsp;



Ms. Elias has recorded songbook tribute albums to the latter two, namely “I Thought About You” (2013) in honor of Baker, and “Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings &amp; Plays Bill Evans” (2007). Indeed, she continues to honor Evans’s legacy by working on a permanent basis with his last great bassist, Mark Johnson, who is also her husband.



Her new album, a set of fresh originals titled “Time and Again,” has a heavy pop sheen to it. Most tracks include an unobtrusive, understated background choir of voices, arranged and performed by Take 6’s Mark Kibble, while “Sempre” was composed by Ms. Elias as a duet for herself and a 75-year-old Brazilian star, Djavan. “How Many Times” has a haunting, Asiatic kind of a tune enhanced by the master of guitar soundscapes, Bill Frisell, working with Ms. Elias for the first time, as far as I can tell.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Appearing at Birdland with Mr. Johnson plus guitar and drums, she played a pleasing mix of originals, new works, and all-time Latin jazz standards, going back all the way back to 1939 for Ary Barroso’s “​​Aquarela do Brasil,” known outside of that country as simply “Brazil,” as well as two of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s breakthrough early works, “A Felicidade (Happiness)” and “Desifinado.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Where the album has a lilting, ambient quality to it — reminiscent of the electronically based smooth Brazilian jazz of Ivan Lins — her quartet performances at Birdland hone much more closer to mainstream American modern jazz.&nbsp;&nbsp;



She concluded the early show on Wednesday with a grandly extended “Desafinado,” one of the earliest Jobim tunes to cause a stir outside of Brazil — even before the blockbuster breakthrough of “The Girl from Ipanema.” To non-jazz fans, the idea of a 10- or 12-minute treatment of a standard might seem self-indulgent in the extreme, but this was hardly the case here.&nbsp; Ms. Elias played Jobim’s melody with an intensity that was boppish, Brazilian, and brilliant, allowing for extended solos from everyone, all of whom had something to say.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Yet it’s never so intense as to be anything other than cheerful and uplifting; as the set ended, everyone at Birdland was smiling.

Eliane Elias.

An Exemplar of Brazilian Jazz, Pianist Eliane Elias Lights Up Birdland

Like Monty Alexander in particular, she is a gifted bandleader and entertainer as well as a keyboard virtuoso and a singer of note, working in the soft, understated Brazilian idiom.

An Exemplar of Brazilian Jazz, Pianist Eliane Elias Lights Up Birdland | The New York Sun

Home

The New York Sun

https://wp.nysun.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/the-new-york-sun-og.jpg

The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, on November 21, 2023 at Atlanta. 

Fani Willis Faces Another Defeat as Her Bid To Jail Young Thug for X Posts Is Denied

President Assad and his wife Asma during a visit to Moscow's State Institute for Foreign Relations on January 25, 2005.

‘The Invisible Man’: Exiled Ex-President of Syria Finds a Gilded Life in Moscow Watched by Allies and Enemies

President Trump, left, and President Zelensky, center, are seen at the Elysee Palace, December 7, 2024 at Paris, and President Putin, right, addresses a Technology Forum at Moscow, Russia, February 21, 2025. 

Roadmap to an Imperfect Peace: Consensus Emerges on How the Ukraine War Will End

Christopher Raia, shown here during the probe of the New Orleans truck attack, has been named head of the New York FBI office.

Veteran G-Man Installed as Head of FBI’s Embattled New York City Office, Replacing Agent Who Told Colleagues To ‘Dig In’ Against Trump’s January 6 Questionnaire

Mayor Adams is now running as an independent for reelection. 

Mayor Adams Emerges From His Legal Travail With a Full-Throated Warning About the ‘Deep State’

Argentina's president, Javier Milei, speaks during a ceremony commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the conflict between Argentina and Britain, at Buenos Aires, April 2, 2025.

While Countries Weigh Escalating Tariff War, Argentina and Israel Move To Address Trump’s Points, and Vietnam Aims for a Deal

President Trump walks with Attorney General Bondi during a visit to the Justice Department March 14, 2025 at Washington, DC.

Exclusive: New Probe Into January 6 Prosecutions Is Emerging Under Trump as a Priority in the Justice Department

President Trump announces new tariffs at the White House Rose Garden, April 2, 2025.

An Exemplar of Brazilian Jazz, Pianist Eliane Elias Lights Up Birdland

Please check your email.

To continue reading, please select:

Enter your email to read for FREE

Join the Sun for a PENNY A DAY

Sections

More

Sign in or Create a free account

A login link has been sent to