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Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and pianist Eliane Elias is known for her distinctive and immediately recognizable musical style, which blends her Brazilian roots and sensuous, alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, classical, and compositional skills.
As a Grammy Award winner, four-time Gold Disc Award recipient, and three-time winner of Best Vocal Album in Japan, Elias has taken her place in the pantheon of music giants. She was the number-one artist in sales and radio in France, with all her recordings reaching the top five on the Billboard charts, the iTunes jazz radio charts, and Amazon, to name a few accolades.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Elias possessed musical talents that began to show at an early age. She started studying piano at age seven and at age twelve was transcribing solos from the great jazz masters. By the time she was fifteen, she was teaching piano and improvisation at one of Brazil’s most prestigious schools of music. Her performing career began in Brazil at age seventeen, working with Brazilian singer-songwriter Toquinho and the great poet Vinícius de Moraes, who was also Antonio Carlos Jobim’s cowriter-lyricist. In 1981, she headed for New York and landed a spot in the acclaimed group Steps Ahead in 1982.
Her first album release was a collaboration with Randy Brecker in 1984 entitled Amanda. Shortly thereafter, her solo career began, spanning over twenty-two albums to date. In her work, Elias has documented dozens of her own compositions, her outstanding piano playing and arranging, and beautiful vocal interpretations.
Two years after seducing fans with her Grammy-winning Made in Brazil (Best Latin Jazz Album), Elias returns with the ebullient Dance of Time. Like its predecessor, this album was recorded in Brazil. “Recording in Brazil was such a high,” explains Elias as to why she returned to the country. But thematically, Dance of Time is its own beautiful beast. Whereas Made in Brazil was a tantalizing toast to three generations of Brazilian composers, Dance of Time’s themes are multifold.
What distinguishes Elias as one of today’s leading bossa nova interpreters is her superb musicianship, the way she floats above the rhythm and meshes her vocals with her robust jazz piano accompaniment.
—Associated Press
Elias’ keyboard work is masterful, and her subtle vocals could melt the coldest of hearts. Her bossa nova and samba material mirrors the songbooks of the Great Brazilian masters.
—DownBeat