Eumir Deodato - Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle (2002)

In the '60s, Eumir Deodato and Marcos Valle were one of Brazil's potent combinations they enjoyed the type of strong rapport that Antonio Carlos Jobim had with João Gilberto and Flora Purim has with Airto Moreira. This collection of '60s recordings paints an attractive picture of Deodato's collaborations with Valle. Regrettably, Irma doesn't provide exact recording dates which is extremely frustrating but the music is excellent. While Valle is the composer, Deodato is the arranger/conductor. In addition to playing acoustic and electric piano and organ, Deodato oversees a predominantly Brazilian big band that includes heavyweights like trombonist Raul DeSouza and drummers Ivan Conti (of Azymuth fame) and Dom Um Romão. The instrumental Brazilian jazzpop that Deodato and Valle provide is very arranged, and yet there is still enough room for Deodato and his colleagues to get in some memorable solos. Melodic, easy to absorb gems like "Maria's Dream" ("Sonho de Maria" in Portuguese), "Summer Samba," and "Crickets" won't appeal to myopic jazz purists or bop snobs; these sublime recordings, like much of the bossa nova that came out in the '60s, are obviously meant to be accessible to pop audiences. But that doesn't mean that the material is uncreative or uninteresting quite the contrary. With these performances, Deodato and Valle proved the same thing that Glenn Miller proved in the '30s and early '40s and Grover Washington Jr. proved in the '70s, '80s, and '90s they demonstrated that instrumental jazz can have pop appeal without losing its integrity and becoming elevator music. Commercialism can, in fact, be a healthy thing in jazz if it is done tastefully, and Summer Samba: Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle is a highly rewarding example.

Who is Deodato?

Despite a productive career, Deodato will always be best-known for a 1972 hit record, his catchy adaptation of "Also Sprach Zarathurstra (Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey)." He began his career playing in a popular local rock group as a teenager. At 17, he was asked to arrange for a recording session orchestra and, despite never having written a score before, the teenager succeeded at quickly learning what was necessary. Although Deodato spent time studying engineering, he eventually decided to make a career in music due to the popularity of his writing. After working in Brazil's studios, he moved to the United States in 1967. Deodato wrote for the American studios and was involved in the still fertile bossa nova movement. He wrote arrangements for Astrud Gilberto, contributed three charts to Wes Montgomery's Down Here on the Ground, and was soon working for major names in several fields including Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, Earth, Wind Fire, Stanley Turrentine, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among others. With the release of Prelude in 1973 (his first solo album and the one that included the "Theme From 2001"), Deodato became a major name for a time. He recorded sets for CTI, MCA, and Warner Bros. through 1979, although the efforts tended to be over-arranged and none caught on as well as Prelude. Since that time, Deodato was mostly outside of jazz, working as a producer and arranger behind the scenes, including for Kool the Gang during 1979-1983.

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