Patrice Rushen – Prelusion
You probably know Patrice Rushen from her 1982 hit “Forget Me Nots” and the countless other R&B and disco classics she put out on Elektra in the late 70’s and 80’s. What you might not know, is that Rushen actually began her career as a jazz pianist. Discovered at age 17 and signed by Prestige records shortly after, Rushen was headed for jazz greatness long before she became an R&B singer. Her debut album, Prelusion is a beautiful slice of instrumental jazz that sounds not too far off from music on Strata East and includes jazz greats Joe Henderson, Leon Ndugu Chancler, and Kenneth Nash. Rushen’s chops are on full display here as she navigates through a range of keyboards including acoustic and electric piano, ARP, and clavinet. An essential for any Rushen fan, this one seems to be getting harder to find so we’d recommend picking up a copy soon.
– Phil Cho
Recommended – Full Listen
A1 Shortie’s Portion
A2 7/73
B1 Haw-Right Now
B2 Traverse
B3 Puttered Bopcorn
Arranged By, Composed By – Patrice Rushen
Art Direction – Phil Carroll
Bass – Tony Dumas
Drums – Ndugu*
Engineer [Recording] – Eddie Harris*, Skip Shimmin
Flute, Flute [Alto], Soprano Saxophone – Hadley Caliman
Percussion – Kenneth Nash
Photography By – Bruce Talamon
Piano [Acoustic], Electric Piano – Patrice Rushen
Producer – Reggie Andrews
Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson
Trombone – George Bohanon
Trumpet – Oscar Brashear