Over the course of an impressive career that has included eleven albums and one Grammy nomination (for last year's Solos And Duets with Herbie Hancock) and also garnered her the growing admiration of colleagues and critics alike, pianist-composer Eliane Elias has documented her genuine love of Brazilian music and American jazz. From as early as her 1987 album Cross Currents, she hinted at a marriage of the two major influences on her musical development.

"I have always looked at music and at my instrument as a complete continuation of my body, an extension of my heart, my emotions, my thinking," Real Audio samples of says the gifted Brazilian born artist. "Prior to my moving to the U.S., I lived in Brazil for 20 years, and my roots have remained with me. Now I have been here for 16 years, and these years have contributed to a change in my music, which today has a wider and more complete vision."

Born on March 19, 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Eliane Elias grew up when the bossa nova wave was in full swing. Naturally, Antonio Carlos Jobim had a huge impact on her (she paid tribute to the bossa nova innovator on her 1990 Blue Note album Eliane Elias Plays Jobim) but she was also inspired by her mother, a classical pianist with a strong affection for jazz. From her mother's extensive record collection she checked out the music of pianists Wynton Kelly, Erroll Garner, Red Garland and Nat King Cole, to name a few.

By age 12, the prodigy was transcribing Bud Powell and Art Tatum solos and three years later she was teaching master classes at Sao Paulo's prestigious Free Center of Music Apprenticeship, where she studied for six years. Although she was already doing gigs at the age of 15, her formal career as a professional musician began at age 17 working in a bossa nova group with Jobim's co-writer Vinicius de Moraes. She continued to work in Moraes' group up until his death in 1980. The following year, she decided to leave her hometown and head to the jazz capital of the world, New York. On the recommendation of bassist Eddie Gomez, Elias landed a spot in the acclaimed group Steps Ahead. She remained with the group for one year and appears on the band's self-titled debut for Elektra Records. In eleven albums over eleven years she has documented dozens of her own compositions, outdoing herself from one album to the next.

Blue Note