Born on the 19th March 1960 in São Paulo, Brazil, Elias started learning to play the piano at the age of seven, and was transcribing solo portions of her parents’ jazz records by the age of twelve.
After studying for six years (and teaching by the age of fifteen) at Brazil’s prestigious Free Centre of Music Apprenticeship, she continued her classical education with Amilton Godoy and Amaral Vieria. She was also the protégé of Vinicius de Moraes, lyricist and songwriting partner of Antonio Carlos Jobim, a huge influence on Elias' work, and master of the Brazilian bossa nova movement. By the time she was seventeen years old she was touring with the best bossa nova composers and interpreters, composing her own pieces and performing at jazz clubs regularly.
Elias then moved to New York and studied privately with Olegna Fuschi at the Julliard School of Music, eventually joining jazz supergroup Steps Ahead (whose members included Eddie Gomez, Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, and Mike Mainieri).
Her first live instrumental recording, Eliane Elias Plays Live, was recorded in Amsterdam on the 31st May 2002, and digitally released in the USA in 2010.
Elias lives in New York City with her husband, bassist Marc Johnson.
* Official site
The classical tradition meets the spontaneity of jazz through the virtuosic playing of Brazil-born and New York-based pianist Eliane Elias. A former member of jazz ensemble Steps Ahead, Elias has continued to explore two distinct musical streams through her solo recordings and her performances since the mid-'80s. In 1993, she became one of the few artists to release jazz and classical albums simultaneously. In a review of a concert in her homeland, Brazil magazine praised Elias for "her dazzling right-hand runs, executed often at frightening speeds. Her command of the keyboard was total. Her harmonic sensibility caused a sense of wonderment."
Elias may have inherited at least some of her musical talents from her mother, Lucy, a classical pianist who often played jazz records in the family home. After studying for six years at the Free Center of Music Apprenticeship in São Paulo, she continued to study classical technique with Amilton Godoy and Amaral Vieira. By her teens, Elias was composing her own pieces and performing in jazz clubs. While touring in Europe in 1981, she met jazz bassist Eddie Gomez and was encouraged to travel to New York. Arriving in the Big Apple the following year, she studied privately with Olegna Fuschi at the Juilliard School of Music. Elias' professional career received a boost when she was invited to join Steps Ahead, a jazz "supergroup" featuring Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, Mike Manieri, and Eddie Gomez. She recorded one album with the group -- Steps Ahead -- in 1983. Shortly after leaving Steps Ahead, Elias began collaborating with trumpet player Randy Brecker, whom she subsequently married but later divorced. Their sole duo album, released in 1985, was named after their daughter Amanda. The following year, Elias launched her career as a bandleader. Since then, she's alternated tours with two different trios, one featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Gomez and the other featuring drummer Erskine and her current husband, bassist Marc Johnson. Elias has also performed with a third trio, featuring Johnson on bass and Satoshi Takeishi on drums.
She signed with Blue Note in 1989, and released her debut for the label, So Far So Close, the same year with a slew of guests. While most of her recordings have been instrumental, Elias introduced her soft but coarse vocals on her 1990 album Eliane Elias Plays Jobim, and has employed vocals on occasion ever since. Her 1995 album Solos and Duets featured a brilliantly executed duet with Herbie Hancock. In addition to working periodically with Toots Thielemans' Brasil Project, Elias has served as musical director for Gilberto Gil's group. While she continued to record for the rest of the '90s, it was 2000's Impulsive! that proved one of the largest surprises in her career as she collaborated with conductor and arranger Bob Brookmeyer leading the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra. In 2002 she left Blue Note for RCA's Bluebird label, where she debuted with Kissed by Nature, a primarily vocal album, and followed it up with the lovely Dreamer in 2004. Elias released Around the City in 2006, a collection of primarily vocal tracks that moved ever further into pop territory, covering music by Santana, Bob Marley, and even Beck. It was her final album for Bluebird.
She returned to Blue Note for 2007's Something for You: Elaine Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans, fronting a trio with Johnson (who played with Evans) and drummer Joey Baron. In 2009, she issued what many have argued is her finest recording, Bossa Nova Stories, fully engaging her Brazilian heritage in bossa and samba and illustrating her singular jazz instincts as a pianist. In 2010, Savoy Records issued Timeless Eliane Elias, a compilation of tracks culled from her mid-'80s recordings Illusions and Cross Currents. In late 2010, Elias signed with Concord; in the late spring of 2011 she released Light My Fire, her debut set on the label. A year later, Elias paired with bassist Marc Johnson for the instrumental ECM date, Swept Away. In 2013, Elias paid homage to trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker with I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker. ~ Craig Harris & Thom Jurek, Rovi
If You Could See Me Now
Eliane Elias Lyrics
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One look is all you'd need to see the mood I'm in.
Perhaps then you'd realize I'm still in love with you.
If you could see me now, you'd find me being brave
And trying awfully hard to make my tears behave
But that's quite impossible, I'm still in love with you.
You'll happen my way on some mem'rable day
I'll try to smile but can I play the part
Without my heart behind the smile?
The way I feel for you I never could disguise
The look of love is written plainly in my eyes.
I think you'd be mine again if you could see me now.
The lyrics of Eliane Elias's song "If You Could See Me Now" express feelings of pain and longing for a lost love. The songwriter laments that if the former love could see her presently, they would understand the depth of pain she has been experiencing; one only needs to look at her mood to realise this. The songwriter admits they have been unsuccessful in trying to hide their love and the pain that comes with it. They try to put up a brave front to control their tears, but it seems impossible because of the love that still exists deep inside.
The songwriter predicts a day when the former love will come back into their life, bringing with them memories of the month of May. The songwriter tries to prepare for this moment by putting up a brave face and smiling, but she questions whether she can truly play the part without having her heart behind the smile. The songwriter confesses that she has never been able to hide her feelings of love for the former love, which is evident in her eyes. And finally, the songwriter has hope that if the former love could see her now, they would be drawn back to her.
Interestingly, "If You Could See Me Now" was written by Tadd Dameron, a jazz pianist, and arranger in 1946. There are various covers of this song from different artists, such as Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, and Eliane Elias, released in different time periods. The song became one of Dameron's most recognised compositions, marking a wave of new sounds in jazz at the time. Tadd himself said the inspiration for the song came from his relationship with his mother and how they reconnected after years of separation.
Line by Line Meaning
If you could see me now, you'd know how blue I've been
My deep sadness and unhappiness would be evident to you if you saw me in my current state.
Perhaps then you'd realize I'm still in love with you.
If you could see me in my current state, it might help you comprehend that my love for you still remains.
If you could see me now, you'd find me being brave And trying awfully hard to make my tears behave But that's quite impossible, I'm still in love with you.
Even though I am putting on a brave face, I am unable to control my tears because I still have deep feelings for you.
You'll happen my way on some mem'rable day And the month will be May for a while.
At some point, you will come across my path, and it will be a time where the memories of our love will be in the air.
I'll try to smile but can I play the part Without my heart behind the smile?
I will attempt to put on a happy façade, but is it possible to do so without any true happiness left in my heart?
The way I feel for you I never could disguise The look of love is written plainly in my eyes.
No matter how much I try to hide it, my love for you is easily seen in my eyes, and I am unable to keep it a secret.
I think you'd be mine again if you could see me now.
If you could witness my current emotions and feelings, I am confident that you would fall in love with me once again.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: CARL SIGMAN, TADD DAMERON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@alexlord6613
The best side of Elaine Elias. Fusing Bill Evans with Samba and NO vocals! Shame she has made so few purely jazz instrumental albums. Money I suppose but that has rarely bothered Herbie Hancock.