Pianist

Grammy-winning pianist, singer and Brazilian superstar Eliane Elias “sings like an angel, plays like the devil and is renowned for the sumptuous sparkling eloquence she brings to jazz” (Icon Magazine). She seamlessly intertwines straight-ahead jazz and Afro-Latin rhythms like samba and bossa nova. Colombian-born jazz harpist Edmar Castañeda performs original compositions and interpretations of traditional Colombian songs from his album Family — nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best Latin Jazz Album category.

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Eliane Elias / Edmar Castañeda: Family

Symphony Center

Eliane Elias’ distinctive musical style is one of the most unique and immediately recognizable sounds in jazz and Brazilian music. She blends her Brazilian roots and alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz skills. She consistently displays her pianistic mastery, and her ability to integrate the many artistic roles she takes on.

Eliane Elias

Dakota

Join us in honoring the life and work of the “first lady of jazz,” legendary pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams. Hosted by the incomparable Dee Dee Bridgewater, this year’s two-day festival features performances by Eliane Elias, Endea Owens, Ingrid Jensen and the Center Song Project, Julia Keefe’s Indigenous Big Band, and more phenomenal women leading today’s jazz scene.

Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival 2024

Kennedy Center

A superlative pianist and evocative singer who combines the sensuous melodicism of Brazil with the harmonic sophistication of New York City, São Paulo-born Eliane Elias returns for an intimate evening of solo piano and duos with bass virtuoso Marc Johnson, a longtime Elias collaborator known widely for his work with jazz piano legend Bill Evans.

Elias made an immediate splash in New York when she settled there in 1981, becoming an original member of the seminal fusion band Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, Michael Brecker, Eddie Gomez, and Peter Erskine. Since that auspicious debut, Elias has been thriving as a bandleader, leading a telepathic and flexible quartet able to navigate fire-breathing bebop and gentle sambas with equal aplomb.

SFJAZZ Center

With multiple Grammy awards for her pianistic virtuosity and golden voice — including another in 2022 for her most recent release, Mirror Mirror — Eliane Elias is in a category all her own. Her two hugely successful recent releases, Love Stories (Concord Jazz), and Mirror (Candid Records), shows her highly personal and intimate realization of love songs made famous by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Frank Sinatra, as well as her own originals (Love Stories), and her astonishing jazz mastery in duets with the late Chick Corea and Cuban superstar Chucho Valdez (Mirror Mirror). With her longtime partner Marc Johnson on bass, and in the company of her favorite rhythm section players, Eliane invites you to share in her vision of love and music.

Pianist

Eliane Elias

Events

Past events

May 9, 2025

Eliane Elias / Edmar Castañeda: Family · Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Jun 18, 2024

Eliane Elias · Dakota

About

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