Eumir Deodato

by Alvaro Neder
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,?Jo?o 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, likeThe 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.
At 12, Deodato started to learn the accordion. Two years later he began his studies on piano, orchestration, arrangement, and conducting, and started playing in dances and nightclubs. In 1959, he became a member of?Roberto Menescal's and?Durval Ferreira's groups, playing bossa nova. His earliest compositions are from that period. In 1962 he formed his first group, which had?Roberto Menescalas a member. Leaving the group, Deodato started to write arrangements for Odeon as a freelancer, having worked in the earliest albums by?Wilson Simonaland?Marcos Valle. In 1964 he did the arrangements and conduction of the LPInútil Paisagem?and recorded the LP?Os Gatos. With?Os Catedráticos, Deodato recorded the LPs?Impulso! Samba?(1964),?Tremend?o?(1964), and Ataque, which contained his compositions "Ataque" and "Raz?o de Viver" (withPaulo Sérgio Valle). He was a member of the committee that selected the compositions to be presented in the earliest editions of the historic FIC (International Song Festival). Having selected three songs by?Milton Nascimentofor the II FIC (1967), he is considered to having being responsible for the launching of the songwriter.
In 1967 he moved to New York, NY, to write arrangements for the?Luís Bonfáalbum with?Maria Helena Toledo. When writing the arrangements for?Astrud Gilberto's?Beach Samba, he became acquainted with?Creed Taylor, who hired him to arrange for other CTI's artists, like?Tony Bennett,?Frank Sinatra,?Roberta Flack,?Paul Desmond,?Tom Jobim,?Walter Wanderley, and?Aretha Franklin. Deodato worked also in that period with?Ray Bryant. In 1969, he released the classic LP?Donato/Deodato?with?Jo?o Donato. His arrangement for "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Richard Strauss), written in 1973, was included in the soundtrack of?Stanley Kubrik's?2001?and on Deodato's album?Prelude, which sold five million copies, being awarded by Billboard, Cashbox, Record World, and Playboy magazines, also winning a Grammy in the Best Instrumental Pop/Rock performance. Having played at the Hollywood Bowl with the?CTI All-Stars Band, he formed his own group that opened at New York's Madison Square in 1973. After many years touring, arranging, and producing intensively, and releasing many individual albums, Deodato worked with?Bj?rk, arranging her albums?Post,Telegram, and?Homogenic. Also in the 1990s, he worked with the Brazilian artists?Gal Costa,?Tit?s?(Vol. II), and?Carlinhos Brown?(Omelete Man). In 2000, Deodato wrote the arrangements for the soundtrack of?Bruno Barreto's filmBossa Nova.