Effortless Conversation

With 2021's sparkling duets album Mirror Mirror, pianist Eliane Elias joins two of her biggest influences, legendary jazz keyboardist Chick Corea and acclaimed Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. Co-produced by Elias, her husband bassist Marc Johnson, and longtime collaborator Steve Rodby, Mirror Mirror is a bold contrast to the Brazilian-born artist's more vocal-centric albums like 2019's Love Stories and 2017's Latin Grammy-winning Dance of Time. Here, she spotlights her deep jazz, classical, and Afro-Latin musical roots as she spars in friendly musical conversation with these two piano masters: literally going head-to-head with Corea and Valdés as she recorded each track live in the studio facing her guests. Adding to the album's timely atmosphere is the loss of Corea, who passed away in 2021 soon after the album was recorded. Mirror Mirror is an album of effortless virtuosity rife with a vibrant, in-the-moment energy.

John Moreland doesn’t have the answers, and he’s not sure anyone does. But he’s still curious, basking in the comfort of a question, and along the way, those of us listening feel moved to ask our own. “I don’t ever want to sound like I have answers, because I don’t,” he says. “These songs are all questions. Everything I write is just trying to figure stuff out.”