Backgrounder: Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle

In 1964, Brazil's Equipe label released Impulso!, an album by a 20-year-old studio keyboardist and arranger named Eumir Deodato. Today, Deodato is probably best known for his 1973 album Prelude and his work for producer Creed Taylor and his CTI label in the 1970s.

Back in Brazil in the early 1960s, Deodato played organ in the style of many bossa nova players such as Walter Wanderley. Impulso!, along with Deodato's Inutil Pasisagem (Forma) and Ideias (Odeon) were similar in terms of him playing organ and covering songs by bossa composers. He also arranged the brass and percussion. The albums are still terrific.

In 2002, Irma Records in Rio De Janeiro culled songs from these albums songs written by Marcos Valle and packaged the collection as Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle: Summer Samba. The album is luscious and peppery, and features Marcos's infectious melodies. Marcos, of course, is one of Brazil's greatest singer-songwriters and bossa melodists. Here's the entire Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle: Summer Samba, which feels perfect for the long holiday weekend here in the U.S... .