Crate Digger’s Gold: Deodato 2

My virtual buddy Jim tipped me off to Deodato 2.  I have been a long time fan of Deodato’s debut on CTI (Prelude), but had never listened to Deodato 2 .  After Jim’s kick in my pants I dialed up Deodato 2 on Spotify and instantly liked it more than Prelude.  Since then I have been searching for a vinyl copy and picked one up last week in Chicago while visiting Pwelbs at Reckless Records in Wicker Park (in very good condition for a mere $3 – damn I love vinyl bargains!).  To add to the intrigue Pwelbs had slipped Deodato’s Prelude into his soul jazz playlist (AKA DJ Funky Socks) without any influence from me.

Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian keyboardist, composer and producer. He has his hand in works from Sinatra to Lupe Fiasco.  Prelude is a soul/funk jazz classic and Deodato 2 is just as good, but somehow did not catch the same acclaim as Prelude.  John Tropea guitar work is absolutely burning throughout the album.  My favorite cut on the album is Super Strut, but is hard to beat Deodato’s  funky take on Rhapsody In Blue.

This album is very dated 70s soul jazz – but hey that is a feature not a defect.  This is the classic CTI sound of the early 70s with amazing sidemen: Billy Cobham, Jon Faddis (Madlib’s uncle), Herbert Laws and Stanley Clarke to name the more prominent names.  Deodato himself is a very funky keyboard player.

This is an absolutely epic slab of soul jazz perfection.  Dig it up!