Eliane Elias: "I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker"

Eliane Elias has been known until recently as a Brazilian singer who has done a few marvelous interpretations of American standards, such as "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads", and "Take Five".  But I suspect that's about to change.  Her new album, I Thought About You:  A Tribute to Chet Baker, was released today, on the first of a five-night run at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City.  It's dedicated wholly to American music, specifically to the music of the late icon of the Cool Jazz movement.

Eliane has long been considered one of the most versatile and expressive jazz vocalists on the scene right now.  Born in São Paolo, she's equally at home with samba and swing, with ballads and bossa nova, and with so many of the other Brazilian grooves, such as baião and afoxé, that are gradually becoming part of the repertoire of the music of the world.  Eliane is also an accomplished classical and jazz pianist with a distinctive style of jazz improvisation:  her piano riffs are immediately recognizable as hers and hers alone.  She came onto the scene at age 17, performing onstage with Brazilian heavy-hitters Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho.  Since  then, her career has been on a quiet, upward trajectory that has gained her fans on every continent.  I came to her music late, in 2008, after hearing her second appearance on Marian McPartland's public radio show Piano Jazz, and  immediately fell in love with the way her vocal lines, like those of the truly great bossa singers, drift in and out of the beat, swaying with the rhythm but not rigidly tied to it.  Her 2011 album "Light My Fire" was a masterpiece.  She switches effortlessly between English and Portuguese on a couple of tracks.  Her piano playing is flawless, and her singing has a way of giving a listener the impression of singing for you, and for you alone.  She also has some of the best musicians working today on that album, such as Oscar Castro-Neves,  Romero Lumbambo, and Marivaldo Santos, to name but a few.

Eliane Elias' love of Chet Baker and his music is understandable:  both artists share a certain romantic and lyrical sensibility.  But she manages to bring a fresh voice to many of these standards, preserving their romanticism without lapsing into sentimentality.  She does this, as this review in AllAboutJazz.com says, by singing the music "straight and uncomplicated".  Add the genius of her piano, her distinctively, outrageously sexy Brazilian accent, the easy transition between samba and swing -- in one case, on the same track -- and you've got music that will drive a listener slowly, delightfully crazy.

Eliane is assisted this time by Steve Cardenas (electric guitar), husband Marc Johnson (bass), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Oscar Castro-Neves (acoustic guitar), Victor Lewis and Rafael Barata (drums), and Marivaldo dos Santos (percussion).  It is a wonderful interpretation of this portion of the American songbook.

Eliane Elias will be at Birdland Jazz Club nightly through June 1, playing sets at 8:30 and 11:00  

And here she is discussing the new album:  

Batala NYC at the 2013 New York City Dance Parade

The 7th annual New York City Dance Parade was a great success this year.  Brazilian music and dance groups were beautifully represented, with performances by Capoeira Brasil, Samba New York, Inner Spirit Dance Company, and my favorite, Batala New York.

Here is a short video of Batala moving down East 8th Street, towards the end of the parade route:

Bossabrasil Festival 2013 with Dori Caymmi and Joyce

I've made the annual pilgrimage to Birdland for the Bossabrasil Festival for five out of the eight years it's been running.  Every Spring, producers Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta bring bossa nova musicians from Brazil to play at this legendary New York City jazz club that is not strongly associated with Brazilian music.  The event has produced some memorable shows with artists such as Emilio Santiago, Marcos Valle, Paula Morelenbaum, and Wanda Sá.  This year's event took place last week, and saw the return of Dori Caymmi to the stage, along with singer and composer Joyce Moreno (formerly known to the world simply as "Joyce") as special guest.

Dori Caymmi is the son of the late Dorival Caymmi, who would have turned 99 years old this year, and whose composition "O que é o que a bahiana tem?" helped launch the career of luminary Carmen Miranda. Dori, who also played the festival in 2009, has produced eighteen albums, and has worked with many other artists, including Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, and Tom Jobim, the man who co-created bossa nova with Joao Gilberto.  Joyce is a Brazilian MPB singer-songwriter, composer, and arranger who got her start in the late 1960s, but whose career really took off in 1980 with the release of her album "Feminina".  Two of the tracks from that album were highly successful commercial hits, and put her on the map internationally.

Caymmi and Joyce were accompanied by Rodolfo Stroeter on bass, Dario Eskenazi on piano, and Joyce's husband and collaborator Tutty Moreno on drums.  It was a delightful mix of original music and beloved standards by Jobim, the elder Caymmi, Noel Rosa, and others.  Caymmi started off the evening with two of his father's compositions, "Voçê já foi a Bahia?" and "Lá vem a bahiana".  Joyce then took the stage to do "O que é o que a bahiana tem?", and from there they moved into a series of duets and solos.  There were a few surprises, such as an unannounced appearance by jazz harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens, who sat in on several numbers, and a medley that combined "Desafinado" with the famous Ary Barroso tune "Aquarela do Brasil".  Joyce also sang "Puro Ouro" an original tune that pays homage to the younger generation of samba musicians.  Other highlights included Caymmi's performance, in English, of "O Cantador", known in English as "Like A Lover", and a cover of Baden Powell's "Berimbau".

It was a great show that brought us all closer to the work of these two very talented bossa artists, and left us all looking forward to what lies in store next year.