The Three Americas
Eliane Elias lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, until she was 20 and has lived in New York City ever since. The 37-year-old jazz pianist has often combined Brazilian bossa nova and North American swing with appealing results, but now she has added Cubansongo, Argentine tango, and Puerto Ricanguarachafor a broader look at Western Hemisphere music on an album aptly titled "The Three Americas." The disc fails to capture Latin rhythms at their most fervid, or jazz improvisation at its most ambitious, but it does combine elements of both into a bouncy, melodic music that should be readily accessible to almost any listener.Elias has a light but agile touch at the keyboard, and, if this undermines the percussive aspects of the instrument, it also assists the fluidity of her harmonic imagination. She accompanies her piano lines with scat vocals on several numbers, but when she attempts a lead vocal on Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Brigas Nunca Mais," the results are underwhelming. She's much better off on original instrumentals such as "The Time Is Now" and "Caipora," where the Cuban and Brazilian rhythms percolated by percussionists Manolo Badrena and Café create a musical surf that she and flutist Dave Valentin can ride. Best of all is her stirring tribute to Astor Piazzolla on the tango "Chorango," which features Gil Goldstein on accordion.--Geoffrey Himes