EUMIR Deodato was rock-star hot when he first played in Manila in the mid-?70s.

The Brazilian jazz man recalled performing to a full-house audience for two nights at the Araneta Coliseum as he told the Inquirer, ?I did half of the show with my band and the other half with Filipino musicians, whom I came to regard as among the best in the world. They just have it. The trumpet player was amazing; we had a great time.?

After over 30 years, Deodato returns for two concerts starting tomorrow at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia complex, and Aug. 1 at the Grand Ballroom of Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Deodato, 67, became famous worldwide with the release of ?Prelude,? his 1973 debut US album. The record had a big-band Latin jazz sound and featured his version of Richard Strauss? ?Also Sprach Zarathustra,? whose opening fanfare was used in Stanley Kubrick? 1968 film ?2001: A Space Odyssey.?

You?re a self-taught musician. What are your earliest memories of learning to play various instruments?

I had always wanted to study music in Brazil. But in those days, if you went to a conservatory, it was very traditional. I wanted to learn pop and jazz and Brazilian music; the conservatory was not the solution for me. I started with the accordion at 12. When I began learning the piano, I wanted to play Debussy?s ?Claire de Lune.? I bought the music sheet and had trouble learning it. I went to a teacher, who laughed at me and said I should first learn to play something called ?The March of the Little Soldier.? I was very sad about that ?

Eventually I learned to play the guitar like every good Brazilian musician. Guitar is fundamental for Brazilian music. I played the nylon string guitar, like Joao Gilberto, Jobim and the others. This was the time when bossa nova became popular, and I got involved with many of the songwriters ? I became an arranger.

Who inspired you to pursue music as a career?
I inspired myself. Nobody wanted me to do that. My mother said, ?Son, what are you gonna do with this music.? My father was furious. He said, ?You?re never gonna make any money.? He was actually right. But I loved music so much. My arrangements started winning all sorts of prizes, not only in Brazil, to the point where I was invited by Luis Bonfa, the famous guitar player who did the songs for the movie ?Black Orpheus.? I went to New York with him to work on his next record.

Your debut US album was a big hit and also won a Grammy. Was it your intention to mix classical and jazz, or to make complicated music accessible to a pop audience in ?Zarathustra??

That is what I like doing, to make people enjoy and know as much as possible the other side of music, not just what we write as pop composers, but what composers wrote in the past ?

You continued recording but your albums seemed to have disappeared from the commercial radar after ?Deodato 2.? Were you disappointed?

I disagree with you. The records did not disappear. I just tried to follow trends, and to create things within those trends. I remember the disco craze?everybody was disgusted that there was no more good music after it. But disco never left. You hear it in dance music and rap. People thought rap, too, would disappear. What disappeared was the record industry. That?s so sad because now there?s not much work for musicians with very few recordings, so you rely on concerts to present your material.

Who do you admire most among the artists you?ve worked with?

I would say Bjork, followed by a French artist named Kristoff, who?s got a completely different approach to music. He?s got that lovable insanity in his material that I love. We had such a good time. I work with many artists, don?t forget. I?m approaching a total of 500 records that I either arranged or produced or got involved with.

What can we expect from your Manila concerts?

The idea is still to have a great time. I?ll be playing songs I have never played before with a 9-piece band, ?like Moonlight Serenade.?