Eliane Elias - Around The City
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CD Details
Artist: Eliane EliasEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2011-02-11
Music Label: Bluebird
Product features:
- ELIAS ELIANE AROUND THE CITY
- Running
- Oye Como Va
- Around The City
- Jammin'
- Segredos (Secrets)
- We're So Good
- Tropicalia
- Slide Show
- A Vizinha Do Lado (The Next Dor Neighor)
- Save Your Love For Me
- Chiclete Com Bamama
- Another Day
- Segredos (Secrets) Part 2
Music reviews of Around The City
Music Review: She's so much better than this
Rating: 3 Stars
Updated May 8, 2007
Breaking boundaries doesn't by itself automatically equate with true innovation or quality.
The fields of jazz are littered with failed attempts to break boundaries. The reason we don't hear them that often is that they've been buried in the cosmic bit bucket where they belong. After all, when was the last time you heard the Duke Ellington and Count Basie tributes to the Beatles? Or Stan Getz playing "Marrakesh Express." Or, for that matter, Paul McCartney as a symphonist. Indisputably great artists making ill-advised choices in an attempt to widen their audiences, or to be taken more seriously, or whatever.
There's no question that Eliane is breaking out and exploring new avenues on this album. Some of the reviewers have made the dubious claim that because it's different, it's automatically better. They also make the claim that the reason her loyal fans hate it is because they're just old squares who can't keep up with an artist who's outgrowing them.
The thing is, in order for the new stuff to be an improvement, it would actually have to BE better.
Some of the stuff that Eliane sings and plays on this album is just junk, most notably the title cut. Some of the album is quite good.
To separate the good from the bad, you simply have to perform the 'Lester Test.' Look at the liner notes, and wherever you see the name Lester Mendez, that cut's probably bad. Wherever his name is missing, that cut's probably good.
The 'Lester' tunes are all reaching for pop breakthrough, mostly at the expense of those things that make Eliane great. It's as though she checked her own judgment (which is impeccable) at the door for those sessions, and let Lester and the whole star-making pop music machinery run the show. The result is predictable: formulaic, mediocre pop music.
Because she's got such great instincts as a composer and arranger, it's surprising to see her lavish her playing talents and her name to material that's so... lame.
The thing is, Eliane is SO fabulous when she's fabulous that we feel a sense of loss when she's not. That's a terrible burden for her, but part of the price of being so great. In her prior outings, she's put her best assets on hold to explore her vocal avenues, and 'Around the City' merely compounded that, putting her best stuff one level still further back.
Great news, though. We saw her last fall when she appeared in SF at the Great American Music Hall, along with her all-time best sidemen (Marc Johnson, who never left, and especially Satoshi Takeishi, who has been sorely missed).
They proved that she's still got it... Man, oh man, does she ever still have it! She did something that night that we hadn't seen before. She sang, yes, but, for once, instead of obscuring her playing brilliance, she brought all her gifts to bear, played her heart out, and brought down the house!!! Half a year later, we're still totally buzzed by the music that emanated from that spot that night. She can sing all she likes if she does it like that!!!
Eliane is an unbelievably great artist. This particular outing deserves less, but we love her too much for that, so 3 stars on this for a 5-star artist.
Description of Around The City
Around The City by Eliane EliasThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
Pianist Eliane Elias goes from bop and Bach to bossa nova just as easily as she sings in English and Portuguese. This CD is the sequel to her 2004 recording, Dreamer, and it features bassist Marc Johnson, guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, flutist Dave Valentin, and trumpeter Randy Brecker. The 13 selections are iPod-ready, techno-textured tunes, including the hip and hypnotic "Running"--which was recently featured on the television show Brothers and Sisters--the upbeat, Top 40-type number, "We?re So Good," and the flamenco-flavored "Slide Show." But Elias's engaging renditions of several pop classics steal the show. The Santana/Tito Puente Latin masterpiece, "Oye Como Va," features her sly, new lyrics and her zesty, Fender Rhodes solo. Bob Marley's "Jammin'" is a resyncopated, electro-samba, and Beck's "Tropicalia" swings with Rio-born, soft syncopations. So it's no wonder that this Calle 54-featured, soulful South American can cross over into smooth jazz with ease and integrity. --Eugene Holley Jr.
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