Something for You: Elaine Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans

Truly a Brazian Diva! Bill Evan's is/was beyond this world and yet so simple. I love what she's done with his work. I love her voice and arrangements. Especially enjoyed Something For You. She's a great piano player!

Brazilian pianist and singer Elias not only shares with the late pianist, Bill Evans, an ear for unusual harmonics, but also his last bass player, her husband, Marc Johnson.
This CD includes two previously unheard Evans tunes alongside Elias's interpretations of numbers associated with Evans and others played with an Evanesque sensibility.
The mood is restful, but there's enough variety to keep the listener hooked.
Highlights : "But Not For Me" and "For Nenette".

Portrait in Jazz
Together Again
The Best of Bill Evans
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
From This Moment On
The Very Best of Diana Krall

Another fine effort from Eliane, I have yet to be disappointed by anything of hers. To say I'm a bit smitten with Eliane is an understatement. I love hearing her put to words some of the songs that Bill Evans did instrumentally "A Sleeping Bee" and "Waltz for Debby" come to mind. This album has gotten a daily listen since I purchased it. I would highly recommend this album to anyone.

I was not a big fan of Eliane Elias' "Dreamer," so I bought this c.d. with some trepidation. It has received really good reviews; would I be wrong to buck the tide?

As it turns out, I'm not bucking the tide. This c.d. proves a basic point: Eliane Elias is the best pianist who sings. That's not to say she's the best singer who plays piano: I'd vote for Diana Krall on that score. And it's not to say she's the best singer/pianist: I'd vote for Andy Bey, but with a special nod to Patricia Barber.

I review singers; but Eliane Elias is such a fabulous pianist here that I can't (and shouldn't) get past that point.

She has chosen to tribute Bill Evans, and I can't think of a better musician to do so. For one, she's married to Marc Johnson, who plays bass here and was Evans' last bassist (before Evans died in 1980). And as such, the c.d. ends stunningly, with a "bootleg tape" of Evans (which Mr. Johnson has been holding on to, all of these years) playing "Here is Something For You." Eliane picks up in the middle of the song where Bill ends off, and except for the recording quality sound and absence of Evans' "grunts of joy," sounds just like him.

But for two, Bill Evans is probably the most influential jazz pianist of all. Nobody played more lyrically, and nobody played chords more lyrically, than Bill Evans. And in this respect, Eliane Elias sounds just like Bill Evans. She's not derivative; you can't "copy" Bill Evans. Rather, she has captured his spirit like none other. Eliane Elias has truly channeled Bill Evans in this recording.

Take for example "Five" (Track 6). This sounds amazingly like Thelonious Monk; but where Monk would play angularly and percussively, Ms. Elias - like Mr. Evans - plays it smoothly, roundly, with harmonies washing over.

Ms. Elias' singing isn't quite up to her piano playing, but that's for two primary reasons: 1) For the most part, she is singing English translations, when her native tongue is not English. As such, the phrasing sounds "stiff," as in "singing in syllables," rather than "singing in phrases." Ms. Elias fares best on "Minha," when she sings in her native Portuguese. 2) She is just so good on piano, that her singing can't compare. She's a better singer than Bill Evans, that's for sure! As I said, call her "the best pianist who sings," and let it go at that. RC

A really nice album from Elaine. She handles Bill's tunes with great touch and feeling, but with her own personality. The only negative I have is that I wish she had included more of Bill's tunes and less Brazil. But, overall a wonderful addition to anyone's jazz piano collection.