Eliane Elias Quartet

“Ms. Elias is never more sumptuously at home than when she turns to bossa nova” (The New York Times). A superlative pianist and singer who combines the sensuous, sun-splashed melodicism of Brazil with the harmonic sophistication of New York City, GRAMMY winner Eliane Elias honors the centennial of Brazil’s greatest songwriter, Antônio Carlos Jobim on Friday and Saturday, followed by Sunday's concert devoted to the wildly popular Bossa Nova movement of the 1960s and beyond. 

The São Paulo-born Elias made an immediate splash in New York when she settled there in 1981, becoming an original member of the seminal fusion band Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, Michael Brecker, Eddie Gomez, and Peter Erskine. Since that auspicious debut, Elias has been thriving as a bandleader, leading a series of telepathic and flexible ensembles able to navigate fire-breathing bebop and gentle sambas with equal aplomb. She has recorded a succession of wide-ranging sessions for Blue Note, Concord, and Candid encompassing jazz standards, solo piano, and the music of her homeland as well as tributes to influential icons Bill Evans and Chet Baker.  

Through it all, Jobim has always been a bedrock part of her creative life, with his compositions finding their way into numerous albums including her masterful 2022 session Quietude that features seductive takes on “Só Tinha De Ser Com Você (This Love That I’ve Found)” and “Brigas Nunca Mais (No More Fighting).”