With the recent passing of baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays, baseball fans were reminded of what once called a “five tool player”, namely, one that could hit, hit with power, run with speed, field and throw. If jazz had such a category, a member of that eliet club would include Eliane Elias, who showed all five musical tools (namely voice, composing, arranging, soloing and performing) with her band at Catalina’s Thursday night to a packed house.
Teamed with husband Marc Johnson/b along with Rafael Barata/dr and Leandro Pellerino/g, Ms. Elias displayed her melodic and muscular musicality at the piano with a confident “Aquarela Do Brasil” while creating rain forest droplets of notes in a solo intro before the band hard bopped through an exciting read of “Desifinado” that had Johnson digging in deep. And whether singing in English, Spanish or Portuguese, Elias’ tall and tan, young and lovely voice causes those that pass to go “ah” as she cooed over the piano on the intro to her cheerful “Voce” and was gracefully cheerful on her own material from her new album Time and Again such as the charming “Falo Do Amor” .
Her rhythmic voice skipped like a stone on a like around Pellegrino’s gentle strums on the peppy “Voce E Eu” and “Eu Sambo Mesmo” while a cozy medley of timeless tunes by Dorival Caymmi turned the Hollywood upscale club into a smoky low ceilinged corner in the sidestreets of Bahia.
Closing the 80 minute set with the audience on a sing-alonged “So Danco Samba”, Ms Elias showed how one can create a career with enough chops to be in Steps Ahead, compose lyricism a la Bill Evans, sing a samba with the heart of Gilberto, arrange with the warmth of Jobim and create a catalogue of material like Bennett. Five tools that were in the hands of a master on Friday night.
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Pete Escovedo 06/28-28, Karrin Allyson 07/12-13, Jane Monheit 07/19-20 and Steve Gadd 08/01-04