Elias was awarded the Jazz Instrumental Soloist (College Outstanding Performance-Tenor Sax) for the 20th Annual Downbeat Student Music Awards. In 1998, Elias was awarded the Mitte Scholarship from Southwest Texas State for academic achievement. Elias taught theory, saxophone and composition at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos for a year before moving to New York. In the summer of 1998, Elias performed (by re-invitation) at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreaux Jazz Festival. \

Elias’ 1997 CD "For the Moment" received substantial national radio airplay, reaching #11 on the Gavin Jazz charts and #14 on the Jazziz

Radioactive chart. Elias was voted Best Horn player at the 1997 Austin Music Awards and Best Jazz Group at the 2000 Austin Music Awards. Elias appears in and is featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 Richard Linklater film “The Newton Boys.”

Elias’ most recent CD “Kicks Are For Kids” featuring guest pianist Ellis Marsalis reached #4 on Gavin Jazz radio charts in the Fall of 1998, receiving 590+ spins a week on 180+ jazz radio stations nationwide. "Kicks are for Kids" was voted as one of the top five jazz records of the year by Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle, while the Austin Chronicle's writers Jay Tractenburg and Christopher Hess voted it as the #1 and #3 best record of all Austin Artists. Downbeat magazine writer Michael Point voted "Kicks are for Kids" as one of the top ten best CD's to come out of Austin in the 90's. Elias has been featured in many national publications including Billboard, JazzTimes,Cadence, Texas Monthly, and Jazziz Magazines.