Tracklist:
1. Also Sprach Zarathustra - "2001" (Richard Strauss)
2. Spirit of Summer (E. Deodato)
3. Carly & Carole (E. Deodato)
4. Baubles, Bangles and Beads (George Wright/George Forrest, after Alexander Borodin)
5. Prelude To Afternoon of A Faun (Claude Debussy)
6. September 12 (E. Deodato/Billy Cobham)
Bonus Track:
7. Also Sprach Zarathustra - "2001" Single Version
Arnaldo DeSouteiro's liner notes:
Richard Strauss never achieved greater heights spiritually in music
than he did in “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” He began this work in
February 1896 and finished it six months later. In this magnificent
work, Strauss, at the age of 32, took his inspiration from the book of
a great philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). However, Strauss
once declared that he never had the intention to write “philosophical
music,” trying only to convey musically “the idea of the development of
the human race, from its origin, through the various phases of
evolution, religious as well as scientific, up to Nietzsche’s idea of
the superman.”
Well, it took over 80 years to transform “Also Sprach Zarathustra” in a
mega pop-hit, thanks to the brilliant adaptation of Eumir Deodato.
Acting as a true “superman,” the great Brazilian arranger, then 31
years old, made Strauss’ symphonic poem famous all over the world.
Actually, in the Spring of 1973, Deodato instantly became a household
name with his unique version of the Strauss theme used as the main
theme from Stanley Kubrick’s 1969 film “2001: A Space Odissey.”
“Prelude,” Deodato’s debut album as a leader in the USA, followed the
worldwide success of the “2001” single (which reached #2 in the
Billboard pop chart, below Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly”),
climbed to the top of the jazz and pop charts, and became a million
seller in America. Deodato got rave reviews and by the end of 1973 his
awards for “Prelude” and “2001” included: Top Instrumental Album, Top
Jazz Album and Top Instrumental Single in “Billboard”; Top
Instrumentalist for Albums in “Cashbox”; Top New Instrumentalist and
Top Singles Instrumentalist in “Record World”; and Top Orchestra Album
in “Playboy”. The following year, a Grammy Award for Best Pop
Instrumental, for “2001”, plus a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist,
confirmed the monumental acclaim.
“Actually, when Creed Taylor convinced me to record my own version of
“2001”, I had already listen to at least over ten pop adaptations of
Strauss’ theme,” Deodato explains. “But for me they were all very
boring, with no creativity at all. It had always intrigued me how
Strauss had developed the melody. I remembered of a tune I had written
a long time ago, actually when I was 15, it was a “baião” in C
Major that worked against Strauss’ melody pretty well. I took my old
tune as a countermelody and, as soon as I put both of them together, I
found that I had something interesting to work with.”
Interviewed by Leonard Feather for the April 16, 1973 issue of
DownBeat, Deodato provided more details: “That was Creed Taylor’s
suggestion, among other tunes he had suggested – “Prelude” and some
others – I knew the piece already for quite a while. The melody always
intrigued me... I had the score of the original Strauss version, and I
restructured it. The way he put the chords together it always sounded
weak. It doesn’t have the depth, because he was following that
traditional orchestra distribution at that time; they didn’t have the
facilities – they also didn’t have Rudy Van Gelder! He made the whole
difference.”
CTI’s producer Creed Taylor always liked to include classical pieces in
his albums, since his days at Verve and at A&M. “Creed also
suggested me to include Holst’s “Planets” as well as one of the
movements from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”, but both ideas seemed very
complicated. However, the idea to adapt Debussy’s “Prelude to the
Afternoon of a Faun” worked pretty well, and Creed liked it to the
point he decided to use it as the title track for the album,” explains
Deodato.
Although unknown to the pop world at the time “2001” exploded in the
airwaves, Deodato was far from being a newcomer. Born in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, on June 22, 1942, he started his career during the
bossa nova era. The opportunity to move to the USA came in 1967,
through master guitarist Luiz Bonfá, who not only paid Deodato’s
ticket to NY, as well as he provided him with enough work so as to
allow him a minimum income in his first year in the New York City. In
June 1967, during a session for Astrud Gilberto’s “Beach Samba” album,
Deodato completed and recorded five arrangements in six hours,
something which attracted the attention of the album’s producer, Creed
Taylor.
Some months later, Creed invited Deodato to score some tracks on Wes
Montgomery’s album, “Down Here on the Ground”. After that, the eclectic
Brazilian arranger/keyboardist/composer worked several times for Creed
Taylor, on albums led by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Walter Wanderley, Milton
Nascimento, Paul Desmond (on whose “Summertime” album Deodato did a
rare studio date playing acoustic guitar!), Stanley Turrentine, and as
a member of the CTI All Stars group.
Between 1969 and 1972, Deodato also arranged for such industry
heavyweights as Frank Sinatra, Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin. So,
by the time Creed Taylor offered him the chance to cut his first solo
album for CTI, Deodato was already a mature artist. Plus: it was all
this diverse experience in varied musical fields that gave him a unique
ability to fuse his Brazilian roots with jazz, pop, rock and classical
elements. It was the key formula to the “2001” success and what you
hear throughout “Prelude”.
“Also Sprach Zarathustra” (2001) – “When I started working on this
piece, I found it was in the key of C. That old melody I had written
when I was 15 years old, and that I used as a counterpoint, was by
coincidence in C too. Then, I asked Ron Carter to bring to the session
that bass which has the extra string in C,” tells Deodato. “Everything
seemed to fit perfectly and we did a good first take. I insisted to do
a second take, but we didn’t achieve the spontaneous feeling of the
first one. When releasing the single, Creed shortened the track from
nine to five minutes, and boom!”
“Spirit of Summer” – This very beautiful ballad was written by Deodato
in 1968 to take part in a Song Contest named the Third International
Song Festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro. Deodato’s first
recording appeared on an album he recorded in early 1972 for the
London/Odeon label in Brazil, “Percepção”. This studio
version for CTI features solos by Jay Berliner (on a Spanish-tinged
acoustic guitar phrasing) and Hubert Laws on flute, with Deodato
playing acoustic piano and making sumptuous use of the two French horns
to introduce the haunting melody. Later on, Deodato did a live version
included on the “Deodato/Airto In Concert” album, and the tune was
covered by the vocal group The Emotions on their “Sunbeam” album. Since
2005, “Spirit of Summer” has been performed all over the world by
Brazilian singer Ithamara Koorax in all her concerts with symphony
orchestras.
“Carly & Carole” – Titled in homage to Carly Simon & Carole
King, this song had been previously recorded by Deodato on the “Os
Catedráticos 73” album, the last one he recorded in Brazil
before signing with CTI, but released only after the big success of
“2001.” This version recorded at Van Gelder’s studio only with the
rhythm section (Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Ray Barretto) plus Hubert
Laws on flute, was also a first-take, featuring one of Deodato’s best
solos ever on a Fender Rhodes electric piano.
“Baubles, Bangles and Beads” – Another fantastic track by the legendary
team of “operetta” composers Robert Whright & George Forrest, who
adapted the melody from a classical piece by Russian composer Alexander
Borodin. Frank Sinatra made it a pop standard on the “Francis Albert
Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim” album in 1967. Deodato’s
arrangement doesn’t make use of the bossa nova beat adopted by Claus
Ogerman’s score for Sinatra, opting for a funky-rock-pop treatment
based on an infectious beat propelled by Ron Carter (his only track on
this album playing electric bass!) and Billy Cobham. The mellifluous
solos are by Deodato and John Tropea.
“Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun” – Inspired by a Malarmé poem,
Claude Debussy, the great master of the French Impressionism, wrote
this landmark work. Deodato adapted it in a very sophisticated way,
mixing acoustic and electric pianos, giving the solo spot to his old
friends Marvin Stamm on trumpet and Hubert Laws on flute, as well as
featuring Ron Carter’s gorgeous and warm sound on the acoustic bass.
The writing for the strings section is also noteworthy, very subtle and
effective.
“September 13” – “Well, during the break Billy Cobham was sitting at
the drums, doing this nice beat…I told him, “This sounds nice, why
don’t we play something to it?” Then I told the bass player and John
Tropea the guitarist, “Let’s do something in A Minor…” So I told Rudy
to go ahead and record it. I took the tape home and listened to it
carefully, the drum breaks, number of bars etc. and came up with the
melody. So when you hear it, the drums cue the melody every time. And
since we couldn’t come up with any other title, I suggested September
13, the date of the session,” Deodato told DownBeat during that 1973
interview.
Deodato’s version of “2001” has recently found its way into the
repertoire of the rock band Phish. For sure, Deodato’s take on Strauss’
will continue to be heard loud and clear across all lands during the
new millenium.
- Arnaldo DeSouteiro, 2009
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