About

THE LEGACY & THE LEGEND

Eliane Elias: The Reigning Queen of Brazilian Jazz

Multi-GRAMMY® and Multi-LATIN GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist, singer, composer, and arranger Eliane Elias commands one of the most distinctive and immediately recognizable sounds in contemporary music. Seamlessly blending her deep Brazilian roots and alluring, sultry vocals with a virtuosic classical foundation and brilliant jazz improvisation, Elias has created a body of work that defies categorization. Critics and audiences worldwide celebrate her not only for her unmatched versatility, but for her profound mastery of every artistic role she inhabits.

A Record of Unmatched Success

Elias’s commercial and critical triumphs place her in a rare tier of global icon status. Over a brilliant career spanning decades, she has released 33 albums, sold more than 2.6 million records, and brought her magnetic live performances to audiences across 84 countries.

On the charts, her performance is nothing short of historic. Elias has secured 23 Top 10 albums in total, with an astonishing eight consecutive releases opening at #1 on the Billboard Jazz and World Music charts. Her enduring global influence is further underscored by her massive digital footprint, capturing nearly 500 million streams on Spotify, driven in part by her song “Little Paradise.”

Peerless Industry Accolades

The global music community has repeatedly recognized Elias’s groundbreaking contributions with its highest honors. A four-time GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed 14 nominations across five distinct categories—including Best Latin Jazz Album, Best Jazz Solo Performance, Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Brazilian Song, and Best Engineered Album.

Beyond the Recording Academy, some of her international accolades include:

  • The Edison Lifetime Achievement Award (Holland, 2018)
  • Four-time Gold Disc Award Recipient (Japan)
  • Three-time Best Vocal Album of the Year (Japan)
  • Downbeat “Best Album of the Year-Masterpiece” honors for Love Stories (2019)
  • Downbeat “Best Album of the Year-Masterpiece” honors for Mirror Mirror (2021)
  • LIBERA Award Nomination for Best Latin Jazz Record for Dance of Time (2017)
  • LIBERA Award Nomination for Best Latin Jazz Record for Quietude (2022)

THE MODERN MASTERPIECES

Dynamic Artistry in Motion

As a performer, Elias is a force of nature. On stage, her charismatic personality and multi-faceted skills come together to deliver a wide, brilliant spectrum of musical experiences. As a pianist, she is internationally noted for her staggering technical prowess—combining exceptional speed and pinpoint accuracy with an undeniable, deep-seated groove. Her adventurous displays of harmonic color and nuance are woven effortlessly inside complex Brazilian-Afro-Latin rhythms. As a vocalist, she carries the sophisticated charm and hypnotic beauty of a true bossa nova icon, delivering live performances that radiate unmistakable elegance and exhilarating energy.

The Live Definitive: AO VIVO (2026)

Elias’s latest musical statement, the 2026 live album AO VIVO, serves as a definitive testament to why she remains one of the most acclaimed jazz artists on the planet. Capturing the raw, kinetic energy of her live shows, the album perfectly synthesizes her piano mastery, intricate arranging, and breathtaking vocal work. AO VIVO is more than a concert recording; it is a masterclass from a living legend at the absolute peak of her powers, celebrating the rich musical tapestry of her native Brazil. The New York Times praised her live performance as “a celebration of the vitality of a culture overflowing with life and natural beauty.”

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Multi-GRAMMY® and Multi-LATIN GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist, singer, composer, and arranger Eliane Elias possesses one of the most unique and immediately recognizable sounds in jazz and Brazilian music. Over 33 albums, Eliane has sold more than 2.6 million records, and performed in 84 countries. She has won four GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY® Awards, with 14 nominations across five distinct categories: Best Latin Jazz Album, Best Jazz Solo Performance, Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Brazilian Song, and Best Engineered Album.

Blending her Brazilian roots with her alluring voice, virtuosic instrumental skills, and compositional mastery, Eliane exemplifies pianistic excellence across multiple artistic roles. Her commercial success is extraordinary: eight consecutive releases debuted at #1 on the Billboard Jazz and World Music charts, with all albums securing Top 10 positions overall. Her music consistently tops jazz charts worldwide, including iTunes and Amazon rankings, underscoring her enduring contemporary influence.

Additional accolades include four Gold Disc Awards, three Best Vocal Album of the Year wins in Japan and the the Edison Lifetime Achievement Award in Holland (2018). Her 2019 and 2021 albums Love Stories and Mirror Mirror, both earned Downbeat’s “Best Album of the Year- Masterpiece” designation. She received two LIBERA Award nominations for Best Latin Jazz Record (2017 and 2023). With nearly 500 million Spotify streams and over 40 million listens of her song “Little Paradise,” Eliane maintains a powerful digital presence. Celebrated worldwide, Eliane is recognized by critics and audiences alike for her remarkable versatility and her mastery as a pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger.

THE MUSIC

THE CANDID YEARS

Eliane’s 2026 release, AO VIVO, is a live album that clearly demonstrates why she is one of the most acclaimed jazz artists, blending her piano mastery, arranging, and vocal skills.  As a pianist, she is noted for her technical prowess, combining speed and accuracy, imbued with an undeniable groove, capable of adventurous displays of harmonic color and nuance, woven inside the complex Brazilian-Afro-Latin rhythms.  As a singer, Eliane has the charm and the beauty of a sultry, sophisticated Brazilian bossa nova icon and is widely recognized as the “reigning queen of Brazilian jazz”. AO VIVO reveals an artist of unmistakable elegance, charisma, and exhilarating energy. 

With her 2024 recording Time and Again, Eliane proves again that she’s a multi-faceted, groundbreaking artist who continues to reach new heights in a brilliant career spanning decades. The music on Time and Again reflects the same level of artistry and ingenuity Elias has demonstrated throughout her career. She surprises us time and again with her creative ability, this time, producing an entire album of her own compositions with lyrics in English and Portuguese. “Time and Again” received a GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album, and hit #1 on several jazz charts worldwide including iTunes and Amazon Best Seller in the USA. Brazilian star singer songwriter Djavan is a special guest on the album.

Eliane’s GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY® Award nominated 2022 album Quietude features her intoxicating and intimate voice taking center stage, often supported by acoustic guitar in a swinging bossa nova style.

Her 2021 album Mirror Mirror was the winner of the 2022 GRAMMY® Award and the 2022 Latin GRAMMY® Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. The album features piano duets with the legendary Chick Corea, and Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés.

CONCORD JAZZ

The Concord years marked a defining creative surge for Elias. Light My Fire (2011), the first of her six Concord releases, showcased her full artistic command—composer, pianist, vocalist, arranger, and producer. Blending four original works with reimagined classics by Jim Morrison, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Desmond, the album featured a powerhouse ensemble of twelve musicians, including Brazilian legend Gilberto Gil. Its impact was immediate: in September 2011, her original “What About the Heart (Bate Bate)” earned a Latin GRAMMY® nomination for Best Brazilian Song.

Elias’ 2013 release, I Thought About You (A Tribute to Chet Baker), deepened her artistic reach. The album affirmed her mastery of the American songbook and her place in the lineage of great singer‑instrumentalists. Critically acclaimed and commercially dominant, it reached No. 1 on Amazon in both the U.S. and France, climbed to No. 2 on iTunes across multiple countries, and secured top positions on Billboard and major jazz radio charts.

Made in Brazil (2015) marked a milestone in Elias’ career. After seven prior nominations, the album earned her first GRAMMY® win for Best Latin Jazz Album, a triumph underscoring the significance of her return to record in her homeland for the first time since leaving Brazil in 1981. The project became both a musical homecoming and a bold artistic statement, reaffirming her authority as a Brazilian jazz innovator.

Her follow‑up, Dance of Time (2017), also recorded in Brazil, extended that momentum. Debuting at No. 1 on two Billboard charts—as well as topping iTunes Jazz and Amazon’s Brazilian and Latin Jazz rankings—the album captured her mastery of rhythm, tradition, and contemporary expression. It went on to win the Latin GRAMMY® for Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album, solidifying her stature as a genre‑defining artist. The album has special guests Joao Bosco, Toquinho, Amilton Godoy, Mark Kibble, Michael Mainieri and Randy Brecker.

Elias followed up those wins with the all-instrumental Music from Man of La Mancha. Featuring individualized interpretations of songs from the legendary Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. Commissioned by the composer, Mitch Leigh, and recorded in 1995, the album languished in Leigh’s private vault until its release in 2018.  The album features two different all-star trios — one featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette and the other Marc Johnson on bass and Satoshi Takeishi on drums, with Manolo Badrena on percussion. This album also reached the #1 position on the Billboard Jazz Charts and on iTunes in several countries.

Elias’ 2019 album Love Stories is a lush, all‑English romantic collection featuring sweeping orchestral arrangements, recorded between Brazil and London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. With Love Stories, she once again ascended to the top of charts worldwide—reaching the #1 position on Amazon’s Latin, Brazilian, and Orchestral rankings, claiming #1 on iTunes in seven countries, and returning to the summit of the Billboard Jazz Charts—affirming her status as a global jazz luminary. Elias’ deep connection to the bossa nova tradition shines throughout the album, emerging in fresh, contemporary ways as she reimagines classics made famous by Frank Sinatra, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and other timeless voices. Alongside these reinventions, she turns inward for inspiration, offering three exquisite original compositions that reveal the full breadth of her artistry and emotional range.

BLUE NOTE/EMI /RCA AND MORE

Elias returned to Blue Note/EMI in 2007 with Something for You, a deeply personal tribute to Bill Evans that highlights her brilliance as composer, interpreter, pianist, and vocalist. The album earned Japan’s Best Vocal Album of the Year and Gold Disc Award—her third consecutive project to do so—and topped charts worldwide, hitting No. 1 on U.S. Jazz Radio, No. 8 on Billboard, and No. 2 in France.

Bossa Nova Stories (2008) marked the genre’s 50th anniversary with Elias’ signature elegance—lush vocals, masterful playing, and orchestral warmth recorded at Abbey Road. Blending iconic Brazilian songs with American and pop standards, the album became a global hit: No. 1 in France, No. 1 Vocal Album in Japan, No. 1 on iTunes Jazz, No. 1 on iTunes Latin, and a No. 2 debut on Billboard’s Jazz and Overall charts. It also earned a nomination for Brazil’s Prêmio da Música Brasileira for Best Foreign Album.

Eliane Elias Plays Live (2010) captures the electricity of a world‑class trio in full conversation. Recorded in Amsterdam, the all‑instrumental set with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron showcases telepathic interplay—fluid exchanges, sharp dynamic shifts, and a rhythmic elasticity that elevates Elias’ inventive, commanding pianism across jazz standards and one original. Eliane has recorded 13 albums for Blue Note/EMI

HOW IT ALL BEGAN/THE EARLY YEARS

From Italian and Spanish descent, born in São Paulo, Brazil, Elias demonstrated musical talent early. She began piano studies at age seven and by age twelve was transcribing solos from jazz masters. At fifteen, she taught piano and improvisation at CLAM, Brazil’s prestigious music school, where she studied with pianist Amilton Godoy. Her professional career began at seventeen, working with singer-songwriter Toquinho and poet Vinicius de Moraes, collaborator with Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Moving to New York in 1981, Elias joined the acclaimed group Steps Ahead in 1982. That same year, she became the first female instrumentalist to appear on Downbeat magazine’s cover. Her first solo album, Amanda (1984), was a collaboration with Randy Brecker. She won her first critical recognition in 1988 when Jazziz magazine’s Critic’s Poll voted her Best New Talent. Together with Herbie Hancock, she was nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Jazz Solo Performance category for her 1995 release Solos and Duets. This recording was hailed by Musician magazine as “a landmark in piano duo history.” In the 1997 Downbeat Readers Poll, her recording The Three Americas was voted Best Jazz Album. Elias was also named in five other categories: Beyond Musician, Best Composer, Jazz Pianist, Female Vocalist and Musician of the Year. Considered one of the great interpreters of Jobim’s music, Elias has recorded two albums solely dedicated to the works of the composer: Plays Jobim (1989) and Sings Jobim (1998). Her Sings Jobim won Best Vocal Album in Japan, was the number one record on USA’s and Japan’s charts for months and was awarded Best Brazilian Album in the Jazziz Critics Poll. Both of these albums are a part of Eliane’ catalogue of fourteen Blue Note Records recordings.

Elias’ writing earned major acclaim when the Danish Radio Big Band performed and recorded her compositions under the direction of jazz legend Bob Brookmeyer. Their album Impulsive went on to receive a 2001 GRAMMY® nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. That same year, Fernando Trueba’s celebrated documentary Calle 54 featured her performance of “Samba Triste,” which also garnered a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.

On the Classical Side, recorded in 1993, demonstrated Elias’ classical skills with a program of Bach, Ravel and Villa Lobos. In 2002, Elias recorded with opera sensation Denyce Graves. For this recording, The Lost Days, she arranged two Brazilian classical pieces and wrote an original classical composition especially for Graves titled “Haabiá-Tupi.” Elias’ RCA/Bluebird era opened with Kissed by Nature (2002), a radiant collection of original works. She followed it with Dreamer (2004), a lush orchestral blend of Great American Songbook gems, Brazilian bossa nova, and two new originals. Dreamer became a breakout success—earning Japan’s Gold Disc Award, topping international polls as Best Vocal Album, rising to No. 3 on France’s pop charts, and reaching No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Around the City (2006) showcases Elias blending bossa nova with pop, jazz, Latin, and even rock. Featuring her vocals and songwriting the album delivers bold reinterpretations of classics like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va” and Bob Marley’s “Jammin’.”

WHAT THE MEDIA IS SAYING       

  • Jazzwax “Hands down, one of the finest and strongest jazz pianists touring and recording today is Eliane Elias. In addition to being a spectacularly gifted player, she has enormous charm, is admirably sensitive and has a lovely singing voice.” 
  • JAZZIZ“A citizen of the world” and “an artist beyond category.
  • New York Observer“She can be lusty and discreet, openly hip and lazily reflective. She can make you sway and reduce you to tears, often simultaneously. There is nothing mechanical about what she does, or how she affects an audience. But she achieves a haunting intimacy that is never ponderous. And she can swing.”
  • Billboard“Elias is an astonishing pianist. The best I can do is to explain that I can’t explain. How she does what she does as a pianist remains an enigma to me. That left hand is a store of huge power, the internal voicings and lines are complex, multidirectional, polyrhythmic, there is always masses of information being laid down. And yet, and yet – and this is the miracle- somehow there is always space “
  • The New York Times“The Brazilian pianist and singer Eliane Elias commands the keyboard with a forceful two-handed muscularity that belies her image as a blond younger sister of the mythical Girl From Ipanema. Her renditions of “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Desafinado,” in particular, ripped the songs open, lighted firecrackers in their grooves, and set them ablaze….       “ her live performance is “a celebration of the vitality of a culture overflowing with life and       natural beauty.”
  • Allaboutjazz.com “Elias may well be the finest example of Brazilian jazz musicality ever heard or seen grace the musical stage.”   
  • Connect Brazil “Eliane Elias does more for hemispheric unity than the United Nations Organization.”
  • Jazz Weekly “Most bands play music; pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias takes you on a journey… mixing it like a supreme chef with the flavors of modern jazz.”
  • The Boston Globe/Arts Fuse Elias possesses “magic in her performances” and an ability to “easily slip from one musical dialect into another,” effortlessly blending a samba rhythm into walking-bass swing or a hard-bop vamp.
  • Downbeat Magazine “The chemistry between Eliane Elias, Chucho Valdés and Chick Corea on Mirror, Mirror is an artistic marvel.” —
  • The List On Ao Vivo, “Elias sings with both a seductive nonchalance and a mesmerizing percussiveness while shaping intricate but never showy arrangements.”
  • Icon Magazine “There is soul, solitude, smarts, wildness, and passion in everything classified as jazz and samba that Elias has executed since her recording career began.”
  • Herbie Hancock  “Eliane Elias is of a generation of aggressive pianists who attack music like a lioness attacking its prey, at the same time expressing a tenderness within the core of her passion that at times has brought me to tears.”  

#1 Jazz Album Chart “Time and Again” 2024
#1 Traditional Jazz Chart    “Quietude”2022
#1 Jazz Album Chart “Mirror Mirror” 2021
#4 Traditional Jazz Chart “Love Stories” 2019
#1 Jazz Album Chart    “ Music from Man of La Mancha” 2018
#1 Traditional Jazz Chart  “Dance of Time”  2017
#1 World Music Chart      “Dance of Time” 2017
#1 Jazz Album Chart  “Made in Brazil” 2015
#4 Jazz Album Chart “I Thought About You” 2014
#4 Traditional Jazz Chart   “Light My Fire” 2011
#3 Contemporary Jazz Chart  “Light My Fire” 2011
#1 Jazz Album Chart “Swept Away” 2012
#2 Jazz Album Chart  “Bossa Nova Stories” 2009
#2 Overall Chart  “ Bossa Nova Stories” 2009
#8 Jazz Album Chart “Something for You” 2008
#4 Jazz Album Chart “Around the City” 2006
#4 Jazz Album Chart “Dreamer” 2004
#4 Jazz Album Chart “Kissed by Nature” 2001
#3 Top Contemporary Jazz Chart “So Far So Close” 1989
#5 Jazz Album Chart “Cross Currents” 1988
#4 Top Contemporary Jazz Album Chart “Illusions” 1987

2024 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Latin Jazz Album “Time and Again”
2024 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Engineered Album “Quietude”
2023 GRAMMY nomination Best Latin Jazz Album “Quietude”
2023 LIBERA Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Record “Quietude”
2023 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Engineered Album “Quietude”
2022 Latin GRAMMY winner Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album “Mirror Mirror”
2021 GRAMMY winner Best Latin Jazz Album “Mirror Mirror”
2021 “Downbeat’s Best Album of the Year- Masterpiece”  Mirror Mirror winner
2019 “Downbeat’s Best Album of the Year- Masterpiece”  Love Stories winner
2018 Edison Lifetime Achievement Award winner
2017 Latin GRAMMY winner Best Latin Jazz Album “Dance of Time”
2017 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Engineered Album “Dance of Time”
2017 LIBERA Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Record
2015 GRAMMY winner Best Latin Jazz Album “Made In Brazil”
2015 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Engineered Album “Made in Brazil”
2012 Jazztimes’ Magazine Critic’s Choice “Swept Away”winner
2012 Downbeat’s Editor’s Pick “Swept Away”
2011 Latin GRAMMY nomination Best Brazilian Song “Bate Bate” (What about the heart) from the album “Light My Fire”
2011 Downbeat’s Editor’s Pick “Light My Fire”
2009 Gold Disc Award (Japan) Bossa Nova Stories winner
2009 Premio da Música Brasileira Best Foreign Album nomination
2007 Billboard’s Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year “Around the City” winner
2007 Swing Journal “Best Jazz Vocal Album of The Year” Something for You winner
2007 Gold Disc Award (Japan) “Something for You” winner
2006 Gold Disc Award (Japan) “ Around the City” winner
2005 Best Jazz Vocal Album Award – Swing Journal (Japan) “Around the City” winner
2004 Best Jazz Vocal Album of the Year Award Swing Journal (Japan) “Dreamer”winner
2004 Gold Disc Award (Japan) “Dreamer’winner
2002 GRAMMY nomination Best Latin Jazz Album “Calle 54”
1998 GRAMMY nomination Best Large Jazz Ensemble “Impulsive”
1998 Jazziz’ CrItics Poll – Best Brazilian Album of the Year “ Eliane Elias Sings Jobim”
1998 Swing Journal’s Best Vocal Album of the Year “Eliane Elias Sings Jobim”
1997 Downbeat’s Poll -Musician of the Year winner
1997 Downbeat’s Poll – Best Jazz Album of the Year “The Three Americas” winner  
1997 Downbeat’s Poll – Best Jazz Pianist, Composer, Beyond Musician” winner  
1995 GRAMMY nomination Best Jazz Instrumental Solo “The Way You Look Tonight”
1990 Billboard’s Best Jazz Albums of the Year “Eliane Elias Plays Jobim”
1988 Best New Talent in Critic’s Poll Jazziz Magazine

Some highlights include Eliane’s four GRAMMY and LATIN GRAMMY awards wins amongst 14 nominations in 5 distinct categories including Best Latin Jazz Album/Best Jazz Album, Best Jazz Solo Performance, Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Brazilian Song, and Best Engineered Album. 

With now 33 albums and over 2.6 million albums sold, Eliane has a strong presence on Spotify with almost over 40 million Spotify listens of her song “Little Paradise” and close to half a billion streams. She has toured in 82 countries, is a four-time Gold Disc Award recipient, a three-time Best Vocal Album winner in Japan.

Eliane Elias has achieved extraordinary success, with eight of her albums debuting at #1 on the Billboard Jazz Album and World Music Album charts. In total, twenty‑two of her releases have entered the Top 10 of the Billboard Jazz Albums charts. Celebrated worldwide, she is recognized by critics and audiences alike for her remarkable versatility and her mastery as a pianist, vocalist, composer, and arranger. Across her prolific career, both in the studio and on stage, Eliane has established herself as one of the most distinctive and influential artists in contemporary jazz.