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Eliane Elias: Tiny Desk Concert

Jazz pianist Eliane Elias performs a Tiny Desk at NPR's Washington, D.C., headquarters.
NPR
Jazz pianist Eliane Elias performs a Tiny Desk at NPR's Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Eliane Elias and her team arrived the day before this Tiny Desk to check out the space and audition the piano. We all worked to make sure that every detail, including the sound and cameras, were just right. And it turned out great. The meticulousness and care that went into this concert is evident in the brilliance of the performance.

Elias and her band brought a little bit of Brazil with this commanding performance of the best of the Brazilian jazz genre. Watch how the piano keys sit comfortably under Elias' hands, and how the dynamic syncopation in her percussive left hand complements the beautiful melodic lines of her right, both blending perfectly with the musicianship of her talented band. This superb combination of Afro-Latin rhythms, like samba and bossa nova, with straight-ahead styles make for really infectious music.

Eliane Elias was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and grew up in a musical household. By the time she was 10 she was already a huge jazz fan. Today, she has her own fandom and a 31-album catalog that includes her latest release, Quietude, and Mirror Mirror, a project with Chick Corea and Chucho Valdés that won both a Grammy award and a Latin Grammy for best Latin jazz album earlier this year.

SET LIST

  • "At First Sight" 
  • "An Up Dawn" 
  • "The Time is Now"

MUSICIANS

  • Eliane Elias: piano, vocals
  • Marc Johnson: upright bass
  • Rafael Barata: drums, percussion
  • Leandro Pellegrino: guitar

TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Suraya Mohamed
  • Director/Editor: Maia Stern
  • Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin 
  • Creative Director: Bob Boilen
  • Series Producer: Bobby Carter
  • Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Sofia Seidel
  • Audio Assistant: Hannah Copeland
  • Production Assistant: Jill Britton
  • Tiny Desk Team: Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Teresa Xie
  • VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
  • Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Suraya Mohamed is a three-time Peabody Award-winning producer, sound designer and editor. She currently serves as the project manager for Jazz Night In America and is a contributing producer on the Alt.Latino podcast. She also produces NPR's holiday specials package, including Tinsel Tales, Hanukkah Lights, Toast Of The Nation, Pink Martini's Joy To The World: A Holiday Spectacular and most recently Hamilton: A Story Of US. You'll also find her work on the Tiny Desk series as either a producer or engineer.