Bossa nova turns 50 this year, with the official birth date hearkening back to Brazil in 1958 when guitarist João Gilberto recorded Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes’s seminal “Chega de Saudade.” With Gilberto’s new samba-derived rhythm and soft-spoken, non-vibrato vocals, the song helped to launch a movement of a new sound that melded seductive Brazilian rhythms with jazz and European classical harmony. In celebration of the silver anniversary, Brazil-born, New York-based vocalist/pianist Eliane Elias lovingly pays tribute to the music of her homeland with Bossa Nova Stories, a sublime 14-tune collection that captures the cool and alluring spirit of bossa nova. It’s the 21st recording of her career and the follow-up to the acclaimed Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans that was released earlier this year on Blue Note Records.
Eliane’s singing, integrated with her piano, makes her a unique interpreter of melody and song. On Bossa Nova Stories, her vocal delivery is a marvel of rhythmic freedom, swinging beautifully and wonderfully integrated with the syncopations of her piano, or in counterpoint to the rhythm of the guitar. This is a true musician singing. Her voice, vocal phrasing, feel and interpretation place her at the top of this genre.
For this recording, she leads a top-notch band, all of whom are steeped in the bossa nova tradition, including guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, drummer Paulo Braga and bassist Marc Johnson. Guests include harmonica legend Toots Thielemans, Brazilian post-bossa singer/songwriter Ivan Lins and up and coming guitarist Ricardo Vogt. Produced by Elias and Steve Rodby, the album also features seven tracks with full orchestration beautifully arranged and conducted by Rob Mathes, and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, in London.
“I grew up in Sao Paulo in the ‘60s, hearing the bossa nova which was all around us,” says Elias. “This was the popular music of our day, with its infectious rhythm and poetic lyrics. It was romantic, cool, jazzy, sensuous. I lived and breathed this music. It’s in my DNA.”
The music features classic bossa nova tracks including “The Girl From Ipanema,” “Desafinado” “Chega de Saudade” and “Minha Saudade,” as well as standards given the bossa treatment (two Johnny Mercer numbers, “Too Marvelous for Words” and “Day In and Day Out,” and the Gershwin chestnut “You Can’t Take That Away From Me”). “To include American standards is in keeping with the tradition of the bossa nova legends, specifically João Gilberto, who recorded so many songs by classic American composers,” says Elias. “The bossa nova composers were very influenced by the popular music coming out of the States in the 40’s and 50’s.” In addition, there are two new standards fortified by bossa: Stevie Wonder’s “Superwoman” and “The More I See You,” made into a pop-music hit in 1966 by Chris Montez.
While Something for You showcased Elias’ piano prowess—buoyed by lively swing, balladic romanticism, studied virtuosity—Bossa Nova Stories trains the spotlight on her marvelous vocal talent while also demonstrating her unique pianistic mastery of Brazilian and Latin rhythms.
As the most distinctive style of song form to arrive in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, bossa nova offered a fresh and lyrical alternative to post-bop and avant-garde jazz that dominated the scene at the time. Bossa nova took Brazil by storm, with the rest of the world being swept up into the hypnotic groove thanks in part to the 1959 film Black Orpheus (with the music composed by Jobim and Luiz Bonfa) and the 1962 hit, “The Girl From Ipanema,” penned by Jobim, Moraes and Norman Gimbel. Since then, bossa nova has become part of the musical mainstream and has served as the fount of inspiration for numerous albums, from Frank Sinatra’s first collaboration with Jobim in 1967 (the Claus Ogerman-orchestrated Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim) to this year’s Carly Simon bossa-inflected album This Kind of Love.
As a child, bossa nova was Elias’ daily bread. While she was a classically trained pianist who also studied the music of Bud Powell and Art Tatum, she says, “My story is so intertwined with bossa nova. When I was five years old, I used to watch a TV show called O Fino da Bossa, led by Elis Regina, accompanied by the Zimbo Trio whose pianist, Amilton Godoy, coincidentally became my teacher a few years later.“
From age 17 to 20, Elias worked with Vinicius de Moraes, one of bossa nova’s greatest composers. “I still remember the many rehearsals with him at my parents’ house and the three years of extensive touring with him,” she says. “During those years, I met Jobim several times”
Fast forward to 1989 when Elias recorded her Plays Jobim album for Blue Note. So impressed was the composer, that in 1995 when he fell ill shortly before Joe Henderson began recording his album Double Rainbow: Music of Jobim, he recommended her as his piano substitute. ”That was a blessing from Jobim,” she says. ”He loved what I did and stressed that my involvement gave the music authenticity and continuity. He trusted me.” Also on the CD were Castro-Neves and Braga who reunited with her and Johnson for her Sings Jobim album on Blue Note in 1998.
Regarding Oscar Castro-Neves, one of the bossa nova pioneers, Elias says, “We have a close affinity rhythmically. Playing piano and guitar can be tricky. The harmony has to be in agreement (voicings and chord tensions), but also the rhythm. We feel the subdivisions of the beat the same.” As for Braga, who played with Jobim for 15 years as well as Lins, Djavan and Milton Nascimento, she says, “He’s the father of modern Brazilian drums. Paulo’s playing is superb. His beat is never static, always has motion, and he brings so much added dimension and feel to the music in his looseness and improvisational qualities within the formal structures.” And while Johnson is not Brazilian, his history with Elias counts for a lot, she says. “Marc has been playing music with me for 21 years, really living this music and has assimilated much of the Brazilian vocabulary. He has a great feel and a beautiful sound.”
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