Elis Regina CDs & Links

Elis & Tom

Brazilian Music

Elis Regina Albums, A - Z

Aquarela Do Brasil
(Toots Thielmans & Elis Regina)
(1969)

On a scale of 1 to 5, "Aquarela Do Brasil" is a SIX!! One of the great MPB performances of all time, with Toots Thielemans adding soaring beautiful harmonica/guitar solos between some truly amazing vocals by Elis Regina. Plus Toots gives three solid solo performances, including an Elis tribute. Recorded in 1969, during a "howling snowstorm" in Stockholm Sweden of all places, the Brazilian Super-Diva, Elis Regina, and the acclaimed jazz master, Toots Thielemans, conjured up a steaming, mid-summer Brazilian beach in the studio. Elis is on fire throughout and clearly having alot of fun! Her musical quintet, Elis Cinco, is brilliant and audibly enthusiastic. Singing with a wide range of emotions and tossing off gymnastic phrases with ease, Elis is incredible! She wields her voice like a knief, cutting quickly and deeply into each song. Toots is equally brilliant and the entire ensemble plays like old musical friends. I speak no Portuguese but this music is as clear as a crystal. --an Amazon reviewer
 

A Arte De Elis Regina
compilation album
(1975)
 

Dois Na Bossa, Vol. 3
with Jair Rodrigues
(1967)

The smash hit of their first live recording led Elis Regina and "sambista" Jair Rodrigues to be hired by a famous TV station and a great weekly show was the biggest hit at that moment. So all tracks here come from live recordings from the TV weekly shows. The sound is better here than in the first volume but the repertoire insists on medleys. Not the best of Elis Regina. This is an album for fans, the document of an era just like the other ones in the 3-disc series. --an Amazon reviewer
 

Ela
(1971)

She (Elis) as we can hear in this CD is giving us an opportunity to embrace our deepest feelings and find an spetacular interpretation as in "Madalena" (one the most popular songs of our time, you can easily hear this music sang by a musician in Union Square or in the subway), "Black is beautiful" another expectional interpretation. Good music to be listened and appreciated. --an Amazon reviewer
 

Elis
(1966)

This is a fantastic album. It's especially notable for the fact that in 1966, 21-year-old Elis Regina sought to use her already-considerable popularity and influence to popularize a bunch of then-unknown (in Brazil) songwriting talent on the order of Gilberto Gil, Edu Lobo, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque--that's to say, almost the whole upper-crust of the great MPB generation. To look at the writing credits on this album, you'd think it was made in, say, 1973 instead of the mid-60s. And her voice already had that fiery edge and swing, although she was still quite young, and had yet to work out some of the subtleties of nuance and shading that would make her later work so captivating. Cut for cut though, this is still one of the most important albums of the 60s in Brazil. --an Amazon reviewer

Elis Regina (Personalidade Series)
retrospective album
(1993)

Elis & Tom
with Antonio Carlos Jobim
highly recommended!
(1974)

Falso Brilhante
(1976)

"Falso Brilhante" was a sold-out music play by Elis Regina. A wide cover of Brazilian and Latin music of the moment. "Gracias a La Vida" and "Los Hermanos" are sung in their original Spanish. Elis also covers some of the new important composers from those times, namely Belchior. The ensemble is the usual one for Elis at those times, with the usually great arrangements by Cesar Camargo Mariano. Here you'll find Elis Regina in all her splendor. This is a studio (not live) album although it gets nearly all the repertoire from the show. Strangely, one of the best Elis' renditions from the show was not recorded in the studio, the song "No Dia em Que Vim-me Embora" by Caetano Veloso. --an Amazon reviewer
 

Fascinação
retrospective album
(1990)

Elis Regina is in my opinion together with Clara Nunes THE greatest Brazilian singer of all times. They had an unrivalled power of heartfelt delivery in their singing. Even more remarkable about Elis Regina was her ability to handle a song by famous or less famous Brazilian MPB songwriters like Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento and João Bosco in such a way that it sounded like her own creation. This compilation is a very good one, I would say it is even slightly better than the other "A Arte De", although I have both of them to fill up the missing ones. As an introduction this one is hard to fault and it has the advantage of containing the unbelievably beautiful "O Rancho Da Goiabada" as a cherry on the cake. Don't forget to check out Clara Nunes as well. --an Amazon reviewer
 

Nada Será Como Antes
(Elis Interpreta A Música
De Milton Nascimento)
(1984)

Vento De Maio
(1983)

Brazil is a country rich on pop vocalists--and seemingly producing talented new ones every day. Yet Elis Regina Carvalho da Costa (1945-1982) remains the impossible standard to which they can only look up. A lithe but strong voice, impeccable enunciation, precise phrasing, complete control of color and nuance, easy sense of swing, power--Regina had it all. Listen to the poignancy of "Outro Cais" (Another Pier) and "So Deus e Quem Sabe" (Only God Knows), her blues- like grit in "O Trem Azul" (The Blue Train), or her power in the elegiac "O Que Foi Feito Devera" (De Vera) (sung with Milton Nascimento). Then be surprised by her bright, exact, playful singing in "Calcanhar de Aquiles" (Achilles's Heel) or "Sai Dessa" (Get Off It). Some of the instrumental parts may sound quaintly dated (the electric pianos, the rock guitars) but her voice and her singing is timeless. --Fernando Gonzalez
 

Transversal Do Tempo
(1978)

Elis was a genius. She was the greatest singer I have ever heard in any style or type of music. If you only own one recording of hers, it should be Transversal Do Tempo. This is a collection of live tracks from shows in Rio in 1978, and it finds her at the height of her creative and interpretive powers. This is one of the greatest music recordings I know of, period. It will bring you a lifetime of pleasure. It has gone in and out of print over the last few years, so grab it now while you can! Also try to get "Elis(1974)", and "Elis Regina In London". I am astonished at how little Elis is known in the USA. She had a rare ability to appeal to the masses as well as sophisticates, and is one of the greatest artists I know of. --an Amazon reviewer
 

Elis

Elis Regina Links
Elis Regina Article (by Robert St. Louis)
 

Brazilian Music Index