Deodato

Prior to Prelude, Eumir Deodato was primarily known as a tasteful, lyrical, bossa nova and samba-based sometime arranger for Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Wes Montgomery, and others…

Although Brazilian fusionist Deodato is perhaps best remembered in America for his work with Kool & the Gang, it's important to remember that his career spanned some three decades, and placed a delicious brew of jazzy disco on the charts across much of the 1970s. What he'd begun on the U.S. charts in 1973 with his funked-up rendering of "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" and continued later that year with a rendering of George and Ira Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," he continued on 1976's Very Together, reinventing the popular "Peter Gunn" theme to much acclaim. You've heard the Mancini version, you've heard Emerson, Lake & Palmer, you may even have heard Art of Noise - all have offered very different takes on this simple, brooding theme…

Deodato's Knights of Fantasy, released in 1979, contains trace elements of the Brazilian producer and composer's fusion persona while melding them with disco and lite funk – as many other jazzmen were also doing at the time, from Lonnie Liston Smith to the Crusaders. The album is a thoroughly kitschy sci-fi affair with some very fine playing and horn and string arrangements, particularly on the bass- and ARP-driven "Space Dust/Sherlock," which goes on for nearly eight minutes…

Recorded live in the Felt Forum of New York City's Madison Square Garden in the wake of Deodato's massive 2001: A Space Odyssey hit, this album has a fairly confusing history. Only three selections, "Do It Again," "Spirit of Summer," and "Tropea" were released on the original slapped-together LP In Concert, and these were combined with Airto Moreira's "Parana" and "Branches," which were recorded at the same concert. In the CD-era, the LP was split up; Deodato's tracks were combined with four unreleased tunes from the concert, giving the CD-buyer 35 more minutes of music, while the two Airto tracks were placed on The Best of Airto.

Eumir Deodato has participated as pianist/keyboardist, producer, or arranger in over 450 albums, and has won 16 platinum records. The list of top artists with whom he has collaborated is too extensive to cite, but includes Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jobim, Wes Montgomery, João Donato, Kool & the Gang (group with which he played between 1979 and 1983), Earth, Wind & Fire, and Michael Franks. He has also worked on the soundtracks of major films, like The Onion Field, The Exorcist, and many others. Artists who have recorded his compositions include Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Joe Pass, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, Perez Prado, and the Emotions…