Anthology

Brazilian artist ELIANE ELIAS has recorded several notable albums, including one featuring duets with Herbie Hancock entitled Solos and Duets, which was nominated for a Grammy. Elias is known for her distinctive and immediately recognizable musical style which blends her Brazilian roots with her alluring voice and her impressive instrumental jazz, classical and compositional skills.

Elias 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 poet Vinicius de Moraes who was also Antonio Carlos Jobim’s co-writer/lyricist.

In 1981 she headed for New York and landed a spot in the acclaimed group Steps Ahead. Her first album release was a collaboration with then husband Randy Brecker entitled Amanda after the couple’s daughter. Shortly thereafter her solo career began, spanning over twenty albums to date; seventeen on Blue Note Records and three on RCA Victor Group.

In her work Elias has documented dozens of her own compositions, her outstanding piano playing and arranging along with beautiful vocal interpretations. All of her recordings have garnered a great deal of praise from the critics and have topped the Billboard and Jazz Radio charts.

Her new album Light My Fire, released in May 2011, features four compositions written or co-written by Elias herself and also includes covers of familiar works by songwriters as diverse as Jim Morrison and the Doors, pop icon Stevie Wonder and jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond. Backing Elias is a crew of twelve high-caliber players, including special guests such as guitarist/vocalist Gilberto Gil and trumpeter Randy Brecker.