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
Time Alone
Eliane Elias Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And it seems like nothing's goin' right
There's a place I want to be
Just layin' there beside you
In the shelter of your room
I leave the world outside your door
Lose myself in you
When you're in my arms
I find all that I need
I could never live without
The Heaven that you showed me
I've been waitin' all my life
Just to look into your eyes
I live for the time alone with you
And when I climb the stairs to find you
And we reach for the light
I thank God I've got
This time alone with you, oh yeah
Your kiss can captivate me
And your touch can set me free
I count the hours baby
'Til you are next to me
And it's taken such a long time
To find someone that understands
When I reach out for love now
I reach out for your hand
When I feel your heart beat
It makes me come alive
I don't wanna live without
Somethin' that is so right
I've been waitin' all my life
Just to look into your eyes
I live for the time alone with you
'Cause every time I see your face
All my troubles fade away
I live for the time alone with you
And when I climb the stairs to find you
And we reach for the light
I thank God I've got
This time alone with you
I've been waitin' all my life
Just to look into your eyes
I live for the time alone with you
'Cause every time I see your face
All my troubles fade away
I live for the time alone with you
And when I climb the stairs to find you
And we reach for the light
I thank God I've got this time alone with you
Oh yeah, oh this time alone with you
And the sun won't shine for me
And it seems like nothing's goin' right
The lyrics of Eliane Elias's song Time Alone convey a sense of yearning and longing for a loved one. The song describes a feeling of despair and loneliness, where the singer feels that nothing is going right for them, and the sun won't shine. However, despite this, there is a place the person wants to be, beside their loved one, in the shelter of their room. This place represents a haven, a safe space to escape to from the world's troubles.
The song's central theme is the profound connection and love between two people, and the power that this connection has in bringing joy and contentment. The singer of the song has been waiting their whole life to find someone that they can look into their eyes and find everything they need. The song's lyrics go on to describe how, when they are with their special someone, they feel alive, and every trouble fades away.
Overall, the song Time Alone is a beautiful tribute to the transformative power of love, and how finding that one special person can make all the difference in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
And the sun won't shine for me
My mind is clouded with sadness and I can't see the beauty in the world.
And it seems like nothing's goin' right
Everything in my life seems to be going wrong.
There's a place I want to be
I long to be in a specific location with a special someone.
Just layin' there beside you
I want to be in your presence, wrapped up in your warmth.
In the shelter of your room
I want to be in the safety of your personal space.
I leave the world outside your door
When I'm with you, I forget about everything else.
Lose myself in you
I become so engrossed in you that I forget who I am.
When you're in my arms
Being close to you feels like home.
I find all that I need
I don't need anything else when I'm with you.
I could never live without
The thought of life without you is unbearable.
The Heaven that you showed me
You have revealed to me a love that is heavenly and pure.
I've been waitin' all my life
I have been longing for someone like you for my entire existence.
Just to look into your eyes
Your eyes are everything to me and I could stare at them forever.
I live for the time alone with you
The moments when it's just me and you are what I live for.
And when I climb the stairs to find you
Even the act of seeking you out fills me with excitement.
And we reach for the light
Together, we're searching for something bright and beautiful.
I thank God I've got
I am blessed to have you in my life.
Your kiss can captivate me
Your kiss has the power to completely enthrall me.
And your touch can set me free
Your touch can release me from all my troubles and worries.
I count the hours baby
I always know exactly how long it's been since I last saw you.
'Til you are next to me
I'm always anticipating the moment when we're together again.
And it's taken such a long time
I've been searching for so long to find someone who truly understands me.
To find someone that understands
You are the only person who truly knows me and what I need.
When I reach out for love now
Whenever I need love, I turn to you.
I reach out for your hand
Because your hand represents everything that is good and right in the world.
When I feel your heart beat
Feeling your heart beat is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
It makes me come alive
Being close to you fills me with energy and excitement.
I don't wanna live without
The thought of losing you is too painful to bear.
Somethin' that is so right
Our love is pure and true, and it feels like it was meant to be.
'Cause every time I see your face
Being with you erases all of my troubles and worries.
All my troubles fade away
When I'm with you, nothing else seems to matter.
Oh yeah, oh this time alone with you
Being alone with you is a special kind of magic that I treasure.
Contributed by Addison V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.