Prelude
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Album Summary
"Prelude" arrived in 1973 on CTI Records, the New York-based jazz imprint run by the legendary Creed Taylor — a label that had already made its name putting out some of the most beautifully produced, soulfully sophisticated records of the era. Brazilian-born keyboardist and arranger Eumir Deodato brought his deep musical vocabulary to these sessions, weaving together Brazilian rhythms, lush orchestral strings, and contemporary jazz in a way that felt both timeless and absolutely of its moment. Recorded in New York with Deodato steering the arrangements himself, the album announced the arrival of a genuinely singular talent in the CTI stable — a man who could take a piece of classical music or a jazz standard and make it breathe with an entirely new kind of life.
Reception
- The album climbed the Billboard 200, crossing over from the jazz world into the mainstream pop market and proving that sophisticated, orchestral jazz could find a wide and hungry audience in early 1970s America.
- "Prelude" earned critical praise for its innovative production and the bold imagination of its arrangements, with reviewers recognizing Deodato's ability to bridge Brazilian, jazz, and orchestral idioms with remarkable fluency.
- The album's success on both jazz and pop charts confirmed its rare crossover appeal, drawing in listeners from multiple worlds who all found something undeniable in its sound.
Significance
- "Prelude" stands as one of the defining statements of the CTI Records aesthetic — that glorious early 1970s vision of jazz as something lush, orchestral, and unafraid of beauty, where sophistication and accessibility walked hand in hand.
- The album was a landmark expression of Brazilian jazz fusion, with Deodato threading samba and bossa nova rhythms through orchestral arrangements in a way that helped shape the direction of the broader jazz-fusion movement.
- Deodato's keyboard work and arranging genius on this record helped define the upscale, cosmopolitan jazz-pop sound that ruled the finest radio stations and supper clubs of the 1970s — a sound that felt like the whole world was dressed up and going somewhere wonderful.
Samples
- Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) — one of the most sampled tracks in the jazz-fusion canon, with an extensive hip-hop and R&B sampling legacy spanning decades
- Baubles, Bangles And Beads — sampled by various hip-hop and soul producers drawn to Deodato's rhythmic groove-forward reinterpretation of the classic standard
- September 13 — sampled by hip-hop producers for its deep, funk-laced rhythmic pocket and distinctive melodic character
Tracklist
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A1 Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) —
9:00
-
A2 Spirit Of Summer —
4:04
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A3 Carly & Carole 129
3:38
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B1 Baubles, Bangles And Beads —
5:20
-
B2 Prelude To Afternoon Of A Faun —
5:13
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B3 September 13 —
5:24
Artist Details
Eumir Deodato is a brilliantly gifted Brazilian keyboardist, arranger, and producer who emerged from Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s and truly exploded onto the international scene in 1973 with his funky, electric reworking of Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra," a track so bad and so beautiful it burned up the charts and earned him a Grammy Award. This cat was the master architect of that lush, orchestral-meets-jazz-fusion sound that bridged the worlds of classical, bossa nova, and straight-up groove, and his work as an arranger for legends like Frank Sinatra, Roberta Flack, and Kool and the Gang only cemented his status as one of the most quietly influential figures in popular music history.
