''Prelusion'' is the debut album from jazz musician and later R&B recording artist

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist, R&B singer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, her 1982 single, "Forget Me Nots", received a no ...

. The first of three albums she would record with

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

, the album was mainly instrumental jazz which was her main focus as an artist before focusing on popular R & B recordings four years later after signing with

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. Released in 1974, the album showed great promise for Rushen in the instrumental jazz genre with songs like "Haw-Right Now", "Shortie's Portion", and "Puttered Bopcorn". The album only leaves people to speculate on where her career in jazz might have gone had she not switched to R&B singing in 1978. In 1998, ''Prelusion'' was reissued along with Rushen's second album, '' Before the Dawn'', on a single 77-minute CD; unfortunately, "Puttered Bopcorn" was deleted due to space limitations.

Critical reception

Alex Henderson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the album, writing: "When a 20-year-old Patrice Rushen recorded her debut album, ''Prelusion'', in 1974, she was still four years away from becoming a full-time R&B singer. Instrumental jazz was her main focus, and there was every reason to believe that she would become a major figure in the jazz world. The L.A. native showed considerable promise on this entirely instrumental LP, which is best described as straight-ahead post-bop with fusion references." Leonard Feather of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called ''Prelusion'' "an album debut of exceptional promise."

Track listing

All tracks composed and arranged by Patrice Rushen. # "Shortie's Portion" - 8:42 # "7/73" - 12:42 # "Haw Right Now" - 8:00 # "Traverse" - 10:53 # "Puttered Bopcorn" - 4:15

Personnel

– vocals, acoustic piano, electric piano,

ARP synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the ...

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

* Tony Dumas – electric bass, "blitz" bass *

Leon "Ndugu" Chancler Leon "Ndugu" Chancler ( ; July 1, 1952 – February 3, 2018) was an American pop, funk, and jazz drummer. He was also a composer, producer, and university professor. Biography Early life Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on July 1, 1952, Leon Cha ...

– drums, rhythm arrangement (5) * Kenneth Nash – percussion *

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...

– tenor saxophone * Hadley Caliman – flute, alto flute, soprano saxophone *

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (August 18, 1944 – July 7, 2023) was an American jazz trumpeter and session musician from Chicago, Illinois. After studying at DuSable High School and Wright Jr. College (currently known as Wilbur Wright College) under John DeR ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn *

George Bohanon George Roland Bohanon Jr. (August 7, 1937 – November 8, 2024) was an American jazz trombonist and session musician from Detroit, Michigan. Biography In the early 1960s, he participated in Detroit's Workshop Jazz ensemble, with Johnny Griffith, ...

– trombone

Production

* Producer – Reggie Andrews * Recording Engineers – Eddie Harris and Skip Shimmin * Remixing – Skip Shimmin * Art Direction and Design – Phil Carroll * Photography – Bruce Talamon * Liner Notes – Gerald Wilson

References

{{Authority control 1974 debut albums Patrice Rushen albums Prestige Records albums