Pianist and singer Elaine Elias"s Everything I Love, a foray into the classic American songbook, is a departure for the Brazilian-born pianist, whose previous releases have mostly covered the music of her native country (as on the excellent Eliane Elias Sings Jobim). But Elias sounds anything but out of place, bringing a refreshing sense of discovery and excitement to material that can sound a little too well worn in less-skilled hands. While Elias raises her warm and understated voice on a few tracks, this is mostly a piano-trio album that rotates between the veteran team of bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Jack DeJohnette and the younger talents of bassist Christian McBride and drummer Carl Allen. There are moments where the two rhythm sections seem to divide into a neat old-guard and new-guard approach--like when McBride and Allen get funky on Elias"s "Bowing to Bud"--but it"s actually the tracks with Johnson and DeJohnette that stretch the farthest, particularly on the three tunes with long introductions, "If I Should Lose You", "Alone Together," and "Autumn Leaves." It"s here that Elias touches the essence of the improvisational jazz, especially on "Introduction #1/If I Should Lose You", where the trio somehow morphs from a jagged, sensitive free-form beginning (reminiscent of DeJohnette"s work with Keith Jarrett"s Standards Trio) into the tune without sounding contrived or out of place. --Ezra Gale