Last night I went to see Brazilian pianist and singer Eliane Elias at the Enwave Theater as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival. Eliane moved to New York in the early 80s after meeting the great bassist Eddie Gomez when she was on tour with a Brazilian group in Europe. She joined the group Giant Steps and it was there that she met her first husband, trumpeter Randy Brecker. They recorded an album together and have a daughter Amanda. Eliane made her solo recording debut in 1989 and she has been a big concert draw ever since. She is currently touring to promote her new CD Light My Fire. It is her debut on Concord Picante. Of course her band features her husband bassist Marc Johnson. He started out in the 80s with the great Bill Evans and has recorded several albums on ECM. He writes a lot of the arrangements. On guitar was Brazilian Rubens de la Corte. He is best known as musical director for Angelique Kidjo. And on drums was Chicago native Mark Walker. He has been a member of Oregon and Caribbean Jazz Project and has also worked extensively with Cuban sax legend Paquito D'Rivera. In fact I saw Mark with Paquito when he came to Toronto Nov. 2009. You have to be on your toes to hang with Paquito. He also appeared in Paquito's segment of the documentary Calle 54 and of course Eliane was in the film too. Eliane Elias is a very unique musician. She brings with her the traditions of Brazil and pays tribute to legends like Antonio Carlos Jobim. And she mixes this with contemporary jazz riffs no doubt influenced by her husband and her mentor Eddie Gomez. It 's an excellent way to educate the audience about Brazilian music and they don't even know they are being educated. I like her better as a pianist than a vocalist. And since her daughter Amanda Brecker sang on mom's latest CD, I was a little disappointed she didn't come. The band was great. Walker got a lot of solo time and showed how versatile he really is. They performed several songs from Eliane's new CD along with Brazilian standards like Girl From Ipanema and Desifinado. A very enjoyable show from a great band.
No comments:
Post a Comment