MAN OF LA MANCHA to Feature in Concert in SF With Grammy Winning Brazilian Pianist Eliane Elias

At the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco on Thursday, March 7, Grammy winning Brazilian singer and pianist Elias performs songs from her previously unreleased 1995 album devoted to composer Mitch Leigh's Tony-winning score to the Broadway hit Man of La Mancha. This concert kicks off Elias' four-night residency.

Elias' latest album is a previously unreleased 1995 session devoted to songs from composer Mitch Leigh's Tony-winning score to the 1964 Broadway hit Man of La Mancha - a musical inspired by Miguel de Cervantes' 17th century masterpiece Don Quixote. Elias and her band perform music from the album in fresh arrangements that blend Leigh's melodies with the sultry samba influences that are Elias' trademark.

A superlative pianist and evocative singer who combines the sensuous, sun-splashed melodicism of Brazil with the harmonic sophistication of New York City, São Paulo-born Eliane Elias made an immediate splash in New York when she settled there in 1981, becoming an original member of the seminal fusion band Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, Michael Brecker, Eddie Gomez, and Peter Erskine. Since that auspicious debut, Elias has been thriving as a bandleader, leading a telepathic and flexible quartet able to navigate fire-breathing bebop and gentle sambas with equal aplomb. She has recorded a succession of wide-ranging sessions for Blue Note and Concord encompassing jazz standards, solo piano, and the music of her homeland as well as tributes to influential icons Bill Evans and Chet Baker.