For several reasons,
Paula Faour invites comparisons to the well-known
Eliane Elias. Like
Elias,
Faour is a Brazilian jazz instrumentalist who plays the acoustic piano and electric keyboards -- and she obviously shares
Elias' strong appreciation of
Bill Evans' lyricism.
Faour, like
Elias, has played both Brazilian and American songs and has combined post-bop pianism with Brazilian rhythms. But
Faour is younger than
Elias; she was born in the late '70s, whereas
Elias was born in 1960. And unlike
Elias (who moved to the United States and married trumpeter
Randy Brecker),
Faour still lives in Brazil. So despite some of the parallels between
Faour and
Elias,
Faour is her own person.
The lyrical, melodic
Faour brings a variety of influences to her acoustic piano and electric keyboards -- some Brazilian, some American. She has been greatly affected by the Brazilian samba rhythm and by Brazilian artists like
Eumir Deodato,
Sergio Mendes,
Azymuth, and
Antonio Carlos Jobim, but she has plenty of American influences as well -- not only
Bill Evans, but also
Keith Jarrett,
Herbie Hancock, and
Chick Corea (who is no stranger to Brazilian jazz and worked with
Flora Purim and
Airto Moreira in his first
Return to Forever lineup back in the early '70s).
Faour tends to be drawn to the more clean-sounding bop and post-bop pianists, and her own pianism definitely has the sort of crystalline sound one associates with
Evans and many of the people he influenced (such as
Fred Hersch,
Alan Broadbent,
Lynne Arriale, and
Olga Konkova).
Born in Brazil on July 17, 1977,
Faour was in her early twenties when, in 1998, she met
Arnaldo DeSouteiro, a well-known, very jazz-friendly producer in Brazil (where he has often been described as a South American equivalent of
Creed Taylor or
Tommy LiPuma).
DeSouteiro first heard her performing at a concert that included
Hermeto Pascoal and accordionist/guitarist
Sivuca, who soon hired her as a regular member of his band. Impressed with
Faour's playing,
DeSouteiro recommended her to his wife,
Ithamara Koorax (a well-known singer in Brazil), and veteran drummer
Dom Um Romão (who commands the sort of respect in Brazilian music that
Tito Puente,
Mongo Santamaria, and
Ray Barretto have enjoyed in the Afro-Cuban field). In 1999,
Romão hired
Faour to play with his band, and she ended up touring extensively with the famous drummer and playing on a few of his albums. The early 2000s found
Faour appearing on albums by the Brazil All-Stars and Pingarilho. During the summer of 2002,
DeSouteiro entered a Rio de Janeiro studio with
Faour and produced her first album as a leader, Cool Bossa Struttin', for his own label, Jazz Station Records; primarily an acoustic trio date, the album employs
Romão on drums and Brazilian jazz veteran Manuel Gusmão on acoustic bass. ~ Alex Henderson