Eliane Elias - Bossa Nova Stories

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Eliane Elias - Bossa Nova Stories

Friday, 30 January 2009 17:08

Blue Note ****
Eliane Elias (p) plus various personnel including Oscar Castro-Neves (g), Marc Johnson (b) and Paulo Braga (d). Rec. date not stated
This new recording from the Sao Paolo-born, New York-based pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias celebrates not one but two anniversaries. The 14-track collection marks the 50th anniversary of bossa nova – the genre’s official birth dates from guitarist João Gilberto’s 1958 recording of the Jobim/Moraes classic ‘Chega de Saudade’ – as well as the official launch of Blue Note’s 70th anniversary year. Growing up in Sao Paolo in the 1960s and working with the great Vinicius de Moraes in her late teens, bossa nova runs in Elias’ blood. Bossa Nova Stories, her latest tribute to the genre, divides neatly between classic bossa tunes sung in Portuguese plus standards sung in English. Critics can be pretty sniffy about Elias’s vocal abilities, but she has just about the perfect bossa voice: understated, no vibrato, every note absolutely centred and, crucially, phrasing that dovetails beautifully with the guitar.

Accompanied by near-mythological figures in the bossa pantheon, guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves and drummer Paulo Braga, it doesn’t get much more definitive than this. Alongside ‘The Girl From Ipanema’, ‘Chega De Saudade’, ‘Desafinado’ and ‘Estate’ (the epitome of languorousness and one of two tracks graced by the presence of Toots Thielemans), Elias contributes masterly bossa arrangements of tunes as varied as ‘The More I See You’ and ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’. The incredible rhythmic interplay between piano, guitar and percussion in ‘Day In Day Out’ is so perfectly crafted that you’ll never hear the song in the same way again. Seven tracks feature supremely subtle orchestral charts by Rob Mathes, recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios, while fans of Elias’ piano playing ought to be kept happy by her numerous solos.

Review: Peter Quinn

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