Eliane Elias (center) was joined by bassist Marc Johnson (left) and drummer Rafael Barata in the KPLU studios on September 9.
Brazilian-born, New York-based pianist/vocalist, Eliane Elias, has covered a lot of musical territory in her recording career. Some of her CD’s have been straight-ahead be-bop. Others have focused on Brazilian music. She has also very successfully transformed familiar pop tunes into fresh-sounding jazz.
In this interview, KPLU’s Nick Francis asks Eliane how she balances all these approaches to music.
As you’ll hear, her answer tells us a lot about her upbringing in Sao Paulo and how freeing it is to embrace all styles of music. You’ll also hear live performances of the title track of her new CD, Light My Fire, and the Brazilian classic, So Danco Samba. Eliane is accompanied by Marc Johnson on bass and Rafael Barata on drums.