ELIANE ELIAS
Cadogan Hall London 14th November 2017
Cadogan Hall London 14th November 2017
One of the very finest Latin based jazz musicians, pianist and vocal diva Eliane Elias, returned after less than a year to the capital as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival . With a quartet all steeped in the music of Brazil they are true champions of their chosen genre. The concert celebrated the leaders latest album "Dance Of Time", a fine follow up to the 2015 Grammy Award winning "Made In Brazil". A graduate of The Julliard School Of Music Ms Elias first came to fame playing piano in the ground breaking "Steps Ahead" in the mid eighties, a band playing a brand of advanced fusion and featuring the likes of Randy Brecker, Eddie Gomez and Peter Erskine. Her discography of some thirty six recordings includes two superlative ECM albums of trio music "Shades Of Jade" and "Swept Away" confirm her within the highest echelons of jazz piano. Alongside the leader on stage were US bass man and spouse Marc Johnson whose cv includes work with Stan Getz, Pat Metheny and eight albums with Bill Evans. The Brazilian connection was completed by Berklee graduate Rubens de La Corte, whose fine guitar work as been part of the quartet for thirteen years, alongside the self taught drummer from Rio De Janeiro Rafael Barata who is one of the most prolific recording artists in South American music.
A packed, enthusiastic and expectant audience welcomed the band(introduced only with the leader's name) on stage just a few minutes late and all in black with Ms Elias looking spectacular. It became apparent to many early in the opening instrumental that there was something seriously wrong with the sound balance but despite frantic waving of a long black gloved arm the stage sound engineer remained static behind his equipment. The penny suddenly dropped as the number ended and serious conversations took place beside the Steinway Grand so we felt all would soon be well, we were wrong! After announcing that the first two vocals would be from the 2015 Grammy award winning disc the sound mix had deteriorated even further with the voice being almost drowned by the piano and drums with bass and guitar hardly audible. However after some twenty or so minutes into the performance and much more frantic gesturing from the piano stool things took a very marked turn for the better. "Sambou Sambou" from Dance Of Time was announced and at last the sound quality and mix were perfect. An unannounced and extended version of the Gershwin's classic "Embraceable You" from 1928 was sung most beautifully with superb phrasing and piano interludes of such stunning virtuosity that we knew at last that we were in the presence of a World class performer. Further Samba's from the singers current output alongside Cy Coleman's "I Love My Wife" from the 2007 Bill Evans tribute album Something For You followed before the "final" number, the Bossa Nova signature piece "Desafinado" was announced. Many of the audience gasped, the performance had lasted at this point for only fifty five minutes. However this is a song that is not only given a whole new life by this vocalist but is also used as a vehicle for stunning piano improvisation plus extended solos from bass and drums. It was a spectacular twenty one minutes before the quartet left the stage to a thunderous standing ovation. Did they return, of course they did, for the almost obligatory encore, in this case an up tempo rendering of Vinicius de Moraes "So Danco Samba" with power piano and a further even more obligatory drum solo.
Was it worth the visit, yes it was. There were disappointments, the initial sound problems plus only two songs in English, but the heights, namely "Embraceable You" and "Desafinado" were at the very pinnacle of the live performance experience. The leaders audience communication skills and charisma were shown to be of the very highest level, plus she has the ability to be unable to do no wrong at all for her legion of dedicated followers.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
A packed, enthusiastic and expectant audience welcomed the band(introduced only with the leader's name) on stage just a few minutes late and all in black with Ms Elias looking spectacular. It became apparent to many early in the opening instrumental that there was something seriously wrong with the sound balance but despite frantic waving of a long black gloved arm the stage sound engineer remained static behind his equipment. The penny suddenly dropped as the number ended and serious conversations took place beside the Steinway Grand so we felt all would soon be well, we were wrong! After announcing that the first two vocals would be from the 2015 Grammy award winning disc the sound mix had deteriorated even further with the voice being almost drowned by the piano and drums with bass and guitar hardly audible. However after some twenty or so minutes into the performance and much more frantic gesturing from the piano stool things took a very marked turn for the better. "Sambou Sambou" from Dance Of Time was announced and at last the sound quality and mix were perfect. An unannounced and extended version of the Gershwin's classic "Embraceable You" from 1928 was sung most beautifully with superb phrasing and piano interludes of such stunning virtuosity that we knew at last that we were in the presence of a World class performer. Further Samba's from the singers current output alongside Cy Coleman's "I Love My Wife" from the 2007 Bill Evans tribute album Something For You followed before the "final" number, the Bossa Nova signature piece "Desafinado" was announced. Many of the audience gasped, the performance had lasted at this point for only fifty five minutes. However this is a song that is not only given a whole new life by this vocalist but is also used as a vehicle for stunning piano improvisation plus extended solos from bass and drums. It was a spectacular twenty one minutes before the quartet left the stage to a thunderous standing ovation. Did they return, of course they did, for the almost obligatory encore, in this case an up tempo rendering of Vinicius de Moraes "So Danco Samba" with power piano and a further even more obligatory drum solo.
Was it worth the visit, yes it was. There were disappointments, the initial sound problems plus only two songs in English, but the heights, namely "Embraceable You" and "Desafinado" were at the very pinnacle of the live performance experience. The leaders audience communication skills and charisma were shown to be of the very highest level, plus she has the ability to be unable to do no wrong at all for her legion of dedicated followers.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
