Deodato
The Brazilian keyboardist and arranger Eumir Deodato, who left bossa nova for New York, and whose funk version of Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" reached number two in the US in 1973.
Rio and New York
Eumir Deodato de Almeida was born in Rio de Janeiro; English Wikipedia gives June 22, 1942, and Portuguese Wikipedia and MusicBrainz 1943. He began on the accordion at twelve and the piano two years later, studied orchestration, conducting and arranging, and in 1959 started performing with Roberto Menescal and Durval Ferreira at the height of bossa nova. In the early 1960s he was a young arranger for Marcos Valle's debut and for Wilson Simonal, among others, and made his own debut, Inutil Paisagem (Forma, 1964), of Jobim songs, with liner notes by Jobim.
In 1967 he moved to New York to work with Luiz Bonfa, with whom he made seven albums; Bonfa introduced him to Astrud Gilberto and the producer Creed Taylor, who hired him to arrange for CTI. He recorded with Frank Sinatra in 1969, arranged side one of Sinatra and Company (1971), and made three albums with Roberta Flack between 1971 and 1973.
Prelude and after
Prelude (CTI, January 1973) reached number three on the US pop chart and number one on the jazz chart, and he won a Grammy for best pop instrumental performance in 1974. Deodato 2 (1973) included a version of "Rhapsody in Blue" that reached number 41 on the Hot 100, and later came "Whistle Bump" (1978) and, in 1985, the dance hits "S.O.S., Fire in the Sky" and "Are You for Real". He produced four Kool and the Gang albums in 1979 to 1982, among them Celebration and Ladies' Night, arranged Bjork's Post, Telegram and Homogenic and conducted at her concerts in 1996 to 1998, and scored films including The Black Pearl (1977), The Onion Field (1979), Beat Street (1980) and White Nights (1985).
Wikipedia credits him with over 500 records and 15 platinum awards. His later records include Live in Rio (2007, released in 2009), The Crossing (2011, with Al Jarreau), and Meridiano and Spirit of Summer (2025, the latter with Ithamara Koorax). Arnaldo DeSouteiro co-produced the first CD reissues of his 1960s albums with him in 1998.
Albums
- Prelude 1973 · CTI
His first US album: six tracks, a funk version of Strauss's "Zarathustra" leading, recorded in three days by Rudy Van Gelder.
Songs
- Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) Prelude · 1973
A funk arrangement of the introduction to Strauss's 1896 tone poem, as heard in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a number two single in the US in 1973.
Sources
- Eumir Deodato, Wikipedia
- Eumir Deodato, Wikipedia (Portuguese)
- Prelude (Deodato album), Wikipedia
- Eumir Deodato, MusicBrainz