Made in Brazil

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GRAMMY® winning pianist/singer/songwriter Eliane Elias is known for her distinctive and immediately recognizable musical style which blends her Brazilian roots and sensuous, alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, classical and compositional skills.

Made in Brazil, was released on March 31, 2015 on Concord Jazz, marks a musical homecoming for Elias. In her three-decade long career as a solo artist, it results from the first time she’s recorded a disc in her native Brazil since moving to the United States in 1981. On February 15, 2016, Made in Brazil was awarded a GRAMMY® in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album.

Elias wears many hats on this project as producer, composer, lyricist, arranger, pianist and vocalist. Along with co-producers, Steve Rodby and Marc Johnson, her bass playing musical partner, Elias ventured ‘home’ and recruited a splendid cast of Brazilian musicians that include electric bassist Marcelo Mariano; guitarists Marcus Teixeira and Roberto Menescal; drummers Edu Ribeiro and Rafael Barata; and percussionists Mauro Refosco and Marivaldo dos Santos.

Elias peppered the sessions with delightful special guest performances from Mark Kibble and the multi-GRAMMY® Award winning Gospel vocal group Take 6, her singer/songwriter-daughter Amanda Brecker, one of Brazil’s most celebrated R&B stars, Ed Motta, and renowned bossa nova composer Roberto Menescal. Elias also invited Rob Mathes to handle orchestral arrangements on seven of the 12 tracks, which were recorded in London at the legendary Abbey Road studios.

Made in Brazil contains six Elias originals plus two Ary Barroso standards, two Roberto Menescal chestnuts, and two Antônio Carlos Jobim world-renowned gems. Elias, who did all the arrangements for the basic tracks, said that she purposely wanted Made in Brazil to incorporate three generations of Brazilian composers. Brazil is a part of Elias’ DNA and musically she demonstrates the tradition of where she comes from, as well as where she is today.