luiz simas and eliane amherd at somethin’ jazz club

Last night, Friday 13th turned out to be extraordinarily lucky for me and my friend Arlette Lelay. Luiz Simas has exquisite taste when it comes to working with other gifted and talented musicians. Eliane Amherd is a gem! She is a rare find: a very talented singer, beautiful, mesmerizing, warm, charming but unaffected, a hard working guitarist, and amazingly versatile. Her vocal range is astounding but she makes it look and sound beautiful and effortless. When she was scatting with Luiz Simas in his crowd-pleasing “My Samba Blues” she was winsome and adorable while exuberantly displaying her vocal gymnastics and amazing range without ever being strident or annoying; just perfectly lovely. During an early introduction, Eliane sang a few songs from her new album, “NOW AND FROM NOW ON.” Her songs were very original and expertly rendered. Yet when she sang Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane’s “An Occasional Man” she stole the audience’s hearts! She became this subtle, but enormously sexy Dream Girl, and delivered the lyric like a seasoned chanteuse. Even the help stopped everything, and were absolutely enchanted by her! The room was packed with a very appreciative and enthusiastic audience. Luiz and Eliane’s voices blended so well together, and I would definitely run to see these two working together again! I bought her album, and my friend Arlette has already asked to borrow it!

-- Amanda Stevenson