Pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 19, 1960. She began playing piano at the age of seven, teaching piano at fifteen, and by the time she was seventeen years old she was invited to tour with Antônio Carlos Jobim. In 1981 she moved to New York City to study at Julliard and a year later became the pianist for the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead with saxophonist Michael Brecker, mallet man Mike Mainieri, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Peter Erskine. Along with jazz, Elias has made recordings of classical for EMI.

During her career Elias has recorded 32 albums as a leader and has appeared as a guest with Joe Henderson, Earl Klugh, Andy Summers, Toots Thielemans, the Brecker Brothers and Michael Franks. She is a six-time Grammy nominee and two-time winner. Elias has also received two Latin Grammy awards and her record “The Three Americas” was named 1997 album of the year in the DownBeat Magazine reader’s poll.

Here is a link to Elias and her group doing an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2022:

"TINY DESK CONCERT"