You kind of know what to expect on an Eliane Elias album. Punchy piano playing, an effortless mastery of bossa nova and more, certainly there is an unhurried elegance to Ao Vivo recorded in San Francisco, at the SFJAZZ Center’s Miner Auditorium.
Elias’ husband Bass Desires legend Marc Johnson is once again on bass on this latest. Rafael Barata is on drums and percussion and there’s space for the confident comping of guitarist Leandro Pellegrino.
The repertoire leans into Elias’ long-standing dialogue between Brazilian songcraft and jazz sophistication. ‘Brasil (Aquarela do Brasil)’ arrives not with carnival exuberance but with measured grace, its rhythmic contours tightened and refined. It’s practically obligatory to play some Jobim and ‘A Felicidade’ ticks that box.
Vocally, Elias remains as persuasive as ever, phrasing with intimacy and understated lyricism. There is less of the airy softness that characterised Quietude and perhaps less rhythmic elasticity than on Bossa Nova Stories. But what emerges instead is a remarkable consistency of mood. Her first class piano playing mirrors this exactly: burnished tone, crystalline articulation and lines that unfold with patient clarity. The exuberant reaction of the audience can be intrusive a bit but you get carried along by their enthusiasm. Eliane Elias, photo: Candid on Bandcamp
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