Eliane Elias is routinely connected with her Brazilian roots but, the truth is, “Brasil” begins her first full-length recording from back home since 1981. Subtitled “Aquarela Do Brasil,” it serves as the opening track to Elias’ aptly titled Made in Brazil, due March 31, 2015 via Concord Jazz, and as a sensuous introduction to everything that follows on this involving, utterly enchanting project.
Turns out, you can go home again. Detailed with ineffably beautiful lyrics, a gossamer arrangement of strings and this winking samba beat, “Brasil” makes a resonant case for the natural wonders of her native land — not to mention the multi-level talents of Eliane Elias, who is featured both on the sweetly inviting vocal and on a simply luminous turn on the Fender Rhodes.
“Brasil” is actually the first of two standards by Ary Barroso, along with “No Tabuleiro da Baiana.” But Made in Brazil doesn’t get caught in the cobwebs of the past. Eliane Elias includes two more covers from both Antonio Carlos Jobim and Roberto Menescal, to go with six originals, giving the album a multi-generation complexity that mirrors both the Latin American country’s tradition and its contemporary verve.
Made in Brazil was co-produced by Elias’ bass-playing musical collaborator Marc Johnson, and Steve Rodby. Her working group includes a cast of home-grown musicians, including Menescal. Eliane Elias actually did much of the rest, co-producing, composing and writing lyrics, arranging and (of course) performing as singer and keyboardist.
Her immersive attention to detail, not to mention Eliane Elias’ passion for the sounds that vibrate inside her very DNA here, give Made in Brazil its power — and its lasting gravitas. This is a new album that sounds like it’s always been here, with “Brasil” as its ageless introduction.
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