JAZZ SPRING 2013 WOMEN ON THE HORIZON – ELIANE ELIAS (USA) Bartók Béla National Concert Hall Fire, sensuality, musicality. As a native of São Paulo, Eliane Elias felt the rhythms of Brazil and the bossa nova seep into her ears from early childhood, but was also exposed to jazz and classical music within her family, learning to compose on the piano early on. When she moved to the jazz capital of New York in 1981, her exceptional sense of harmony and improvisational skills won her direct promotion into Steps Ahead, one of the defining groups of the era. Through the supergroup led by Mike Mainieri and Michael Brecker, she found her first husband, the trumpeter Randy Brecker. The marriage produced a daughter Amanda, herself now a budding pop diva, while their musical cooperation extended to a single album named after their offspring. Elias embarked on a solo career in the late 1980s, drawing ever more confidently on her own musical roots. An outstanding example was her 1990 album Eliane Elias Plays Jobim, since when her silky voice has teased and mesmerised not only the male members of the audience. One person she certainly managed to bewitch was the double bassist Marc Johnson, who became Eliane’s second husband and remains her inseparable musical companion to this day. On this evening, we will hear material from a brand new record saluting the art of Chet Baker, reworking the legendary trumpeter’s tunes in a Brazilian style as interpreted by a combo featuring Marc Johnson.