[Cover photo credit to Patrice Rushen]
Craft Recordings and Jazz Dispensary are celebrating the five-decade-long career of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Patrice Rushen with a reissue of her long-out-of-print debut, Prelusion.
While the three-time Grammy nominee became best known as an R&B singer and musical director, this 1974 album showcases Rushen’s talents as a Jazz musician, composer, and improviser and features such sidemen as Joe Henderson, Oscar Brashear, and George Bohanon.
Set for release on August 23rd, 2024, Prelusion marks the latest title in Jazz Dispensary’s Top Shelf series, which reissues high quality rarities. The LP features all-analog remastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI. A tip-on jacket, replicating Prelusion’s original design, completes the package.
In 1982, Patrice Rushen soared new heights with her Grammy-nominated album, Straight from the Heart (featuring the song, “Forget Me Nots”). Yet, while Rushen found international fame as an R&B singer/songwriter, her career was actually rooted in Jazz tradition. Just eight years earlier, at the age of 20, she embarked on her musical journey with Prelusion.
A classically trained pianist, Rushen scored her big break at 17, earning a chance to perform at the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival after winning a high school talent competition. Before long, she caught the attention of the label Prestige Records (home to John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Thelonious Monk), who signed the teenager to a three-album deal.
The first of these recordings was Prelusion, which paired Rushen with Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone), Oscar Brashear (trumpet), Hadley Caliman (Flute), George Bohanon (Trombone), Leon “Ndugu” Chancler (drums), Tony Dumas (bass), and Kenneth Nash (percussion). The album also marked Rushen’s first of many projects with her longtime producer and mentor, Reggie Andrews.
Beyond her solo career, Rushen is also a musical director and prolific composer for film and TV, including scores for Waiting to Exhale, Men in Black, HBO’s America’s Dream, and the theme song to The Steve Harvey Show.
Among other accomplishments, Rushen stands as the first woman to serve as Musical Director for the 46th, 47th, and 48th Grammy Awards, the first woman to hold the role of Head Composer/Musical Director for the Emmy Awards, as well as the first female Musical Director of both the NAACP Image Awards and People’s Choice Awards.
