Eliane Elias and Burt

[harrymcc]

My wife and I went to see the fine Brazilian pianist/singer Eliane Elias at SFJazz last Thursday--and enjoyed ourselves so much we went back tonight (to see a different program--on Thursday she played but didn't sing). At the Thursday show, she began to play a number that I immediately and happily recognized as "A House is Not a Home." After finishing it, she said that when her version of the song appeared on her album "Dreamer" she heard from Burt--who told her that it was his favorite performance of the song.

Eliane said she'd never recounted this story before except to friends and other musicians, so perhaps it's new to you. She really does do wonderfully with it. Here it is from the album:

[pljms]

Eliane Elias's record company apparently persuaded her to sing more on her albums around about the time of 'Dreamer' so that she could be promoted as Brazil's answer to Diana Krall, but her exceptional piano playing skills were always going to overshadow her pleasant but limited singing voice.

I saw her play in London when she was promoting the 'Dreamer' album and one of the highlights was when she performed Tony Hatch's song 'Call Me' and then picked him out in the audience.

[harrymcc]

Weirdly, I am watching her singing "Call Me" on YouTube at this very moment.

The fact that the first show we saw was purely instrumental seems like she doesn't have a burning desire to sing at all at her performances. I do like her singing and am glad we went back to see her do it. And bossa nova is a good genre for singers without endless range, as witness one of my favorites, Astrud Gilberto.

[pljms]

And bossa nova is a good genre for singers without endless range, as witness one of my favorites, Astrud Gilberto.

Yes, her vocal range was narrow and she was sometimes uncertain in pitch but what the now sadly late Astrud Gilberto possessed in bucketloads was charm. Of the several Bacharach songs she recorded I think this one suited her best.