Boogie Friday

Cultured people know "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as an orchestral tone poem composed by Richard Strauss and inspired by Frederich Nietzsche's book "Thus Spake Zarathustra." But to the rest of us philistines it's the theme music to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The tune also spawned the first and only hit for Brazilian pianist/arranger (Eumir) Deodato in 1973 who turned it into a very cool piece of cosmic Jazz-Funk-Samba. I should probably have called this post "Trippy Friday" as this has a very mellow groove better suited for lying on the floor contemplating the universe rather than getting jiggy on the dancefloor - though the guitar playing does get on the funky side. It has the lush and spacey feel that Air and Zero 7 and a zillion other electronica-trip-hop-chill-out acts go for. Not only is this the first instrumental I've ever posted but I doubt if I'll ever post another tune that is in anyway related to Nietzsche either.

Before this Deodato was known as an arranger for Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Wes Montgomery, and even Frank Sinatra. "Also Sprach Zarathustra" came from his debut album Prelude which featured a whole host of Jazz and Latin stars like Ray Barretto, Stanley Clarke, Hubert Laws and Billy Cobham.

Trivia department: In the late 70s Deodato became Kool & The Gang's producer and was responsible for their mega-hits "Celebration" "Ladies Night" and "Too Hot"

[Download]
Also Sprach Zarathustra - Deodato