During the military dictatorship that engulfed Brazil in the 60s my guest today left the beautiful city of Rio to immigrate to the United States.
He grew up with the rhythms that have come to be known as "Bossa Nova" and that craze crept into our national consciousness and the record industry at roughly the same time he came to the US.
He was an autodidact and from an early age his ears were never locked. He wanted to learn how to play every key in every scale. Scoresheet, notepads, melodies and harmonies dancing around in his head as the Coo Coo Birds tried to talk with him through the whirlwind of assimilating.
It didn't take long what with the likes of Luis Bonfa, Frank Sinatra and Creed Taylor there. They recognized his writing, arranging and playing genius. Stretching sound sonically playing asymmetric music with tube drives.
Bug squishing keyboards and Organ that carved out a niche market for him during the last years of free form radio.
His legacy is on full display today as he continues performing with his own groups and collaborating on projects with younger cats as he provides a bridge to future children and their hopes of understanding of how to fuse traditional world rhythms inside Americas only true art form known as Jazz.
Eumir Deodato welcome to the JFS