Eliane Elias, Ronnie Scott’s, London

Eliane Elias has not so much blended the rhythmic complexities of her native Brazil with the piano jazz traditions of New York, as laid bare the equal influence of both.

She darts from the gentle cadences of classic bossa nova to rich clusters of impressionism, and from supple Brazilian rhythms to rolling gospel shouts at the drop of a hat. Expressive, slightly lived-in vocals add charm, while fluent self-accompaniment adds dazzle. It is a warm, highly personal mixture that has long guaranteed headline status.

Elias usually references bossa nova’s heyday, but this gig had more of a historical bent than most. After a sprightly opening samba, Gilberto Gil’s “Ladeira de Preguiça”, Elias told us “we don’t have a bass yet”. While it was being fixed, she doled out snippets of biography – touring with the Brazilian lyricist/poet Vinicius de Moraes as a teenager; a lucky break soon after arriving in New York in 1981 aged 21 when the president of the Steinway Corporation, having heard her trying out pianos in his showroom, offered her one.

A year later, Elias joined the fusion band Steps Ahead, but for this performance she referenced earlier times with a transcription of the original introduction to “Chega de Saudade”. Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote bossa nova’s founding statement in 1958, and Elias’s in-style vocals and Ricardo de Almeida Vogt’s lightly strummed acoustic guitar captured the style perfectly. A slight acceleration tightened mood, guitar dropped out, and Elias spun the fluent runs and close harmonies of modern jazz piano over a hard-nosed swing.

Both sets applied Brazilian lilt to songbook standards – “Tangerine” in the first set and “Light My Fire” in the second – and added jazzy workouts to Brazilian classics – “Rosa Morena” and “Desafinado” stand out. Here, authentically delivered, deceptively light Brazilian rhythms were a staging post for powerful two-fisted tremolos, urgent swing and lush impressionism. Marc Johnson was a fluent foil on counterpoint bass.

Elias has long used Gershwin’s “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” as a vehicle to showcase her jazz credentials. This gig’s unaccompanied performance rampaged through modern jazz styles and showed off her rhythmic independence and harmonic fluency. It bordered on the classic.

Ronnie Scotts