RhoDeo 1701 Roots

Hello,


The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, MPB, sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), mangue bit, funk carioca (in Brazil simply known as Funk), frevo, forró, axé, brega, lambada, and Brazilian versions of foreign musical genres, such as Brazilian rock and rap.


Today's artist is a Brazilian musician. He has over 55 releases, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012  Our man is married to Gracinha Leporace, who has performed with him since the early 1970s. Mendes has also collaborated with many artists through the years, including the Black Eyed Peas, with whom he re-recorded in 2006 a version of his breakthrough hit "Mas Que Nada"..... N'Joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

For most of the second half of the '60s, Sergio Mendes was the top-selling Brazilian artist in the United States, charting huge hit singles and LPs that regularly made the Top Five. His records with his group, Brasil '66, regularly straddled the domestic pop and international markets in America, getting played heavily on AM radio stations, both rock and easy listening, and he gave his label, A&M, something to offer light jazz listeners beyond the work of the company's co-founder, Herb Alpert. During this period, he also became an international music star and one of the most popular musicians in South America.

Dance Moderno Born the son of a physician in Niteroi, Brazil, Mendes began studying music at the local conservatory while still a boy, with the intention of becoming a classical pianist. He was living in Rio de Janeiro as the bossa nova craze hit in the mid- to late '50s, and at age 15, he abandoned classical music in favor of bossa nova. Mendes began spending time with other young Brazilian musicians in Rio de Janeiro, absorbing the musical ferment around him in the company of such figures as Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto. Their company was augmented by the periodic visits of American jazz giants such as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Byrd, Paul Winter, Roy Eldridge, and Herbie Mann. Mendes became the leader of his own group, the Sexteto Bossa Rio, and was heard with them by many visiting musicians.

He made his first recording, Dance Moderno, in 1961 on the Philips Records label. By 1962, Mendes and his band were playing at Birdland in New York in an impromptu performance with Cannonball Adderley (who was officially on the bill). Mendes and Adderley cut an album together for Capitol Records that was released later that year.
Bossa Nova York His early music, represented on albums like Bossa Nova York and Girl from Ipanema, was heavily influenced by Antonio Carlos Jobim, on whose recording Mendes worked. Mendes liked what he had found on his visit to New York, and in 1964 he moved to the United States, initially to play on albums with Jobim and Art Farmer, and formed Brasil '65 the following year. The group recorded for Capitol without attracting too much notice at first. In 1966, however, Mendes and his band -- renamed Brasil '66 -- were signed to A&M Records and something seemed to click between the group and its audience.

Equinox The group, consisting in its first A&M incarnation of Mendes on keyboards, Bob Matthews on bass, João Palma on drums, Jose Soares as percussionist, Lani Hall (aka Mrs. Herb Alpert and A&M's co-founder) on vocals, and Janis Hansen on vocals, was successful upon the release of its first album for the label, with its mix of light jazz, a bossa nova beat, and contemporary soft pop melodies. Their self-titled debut LP rose to number six nationally, propelled by the presence of the single "Mas Que Nada." Their second album, Equinox, yielded a trio of minor hits, "Night and Day," "Constant Rain (Chove Chuva)," and "For Me," but their third, Look Around, rose to number five behind a number three single of the group's cover of the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill" and an accompanying hit with "Scarborough Fair," based on the Simon & Garfunkel version of the folk song. Crystal Illusions, from 1969, featured a version of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and the hit single "Pretty World." Depending upon one's sensibilities, these covers -- especially "Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair" -- were either legitimate, internationalized pop versions of the originals, or they were "elevator music."

During this period, Mendes also made several recordings for Atlantic Records separate from his A&M deal, principally aimed at a light jazz audience, and several of them in association with Jobim. Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Hubert Laws, and Claire Fisher were among the jazz figures who appeared on these records, which never remotely attracted the same level of interest or sales as his records with Brasil '66. Mendes successfully walked a fine line between international and domestic audiences for most of the late '60s until the end of the decade. Ye-Me-Le was notably less successful than its predecessors, and its single, "Wichita Lineman," was only a minor hit. Mendes seemed to lose his commercial edge with the turn of the decade, and his next two A&M albums: Stillness, a folk-based collection that contained covers of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" and Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth," and Primal Roots, an album of traditional Brazilian music, failed to make any impression on the charts whatsoever.

The group moved to the much smaller Bell Records label in 1973, and then Mendes jumped to Elektra for his first official solo album, Sergio Mendes. He relaunched his recording career two years later with Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 to little avail, and then, after a five-year layoff from the public eye, Mendes returned to A&M in 1982. His 1983 comeback album, Sergio Mendes, was his first Top 40 album in nearly a decade and a half, and was accompanied by his biggest chart single ever, "Never Gonna Let You Go," which hit number four. Since then, Mendes has had limited chart success with the single "Alibis" and the LP Confetti. He remained a popular figure internationally, even when his record sales slumped in America, as evidenced by the fact that his entire A&M catalog (and much of his Atlantic work) from the '60s has been reissued on CD in Japan. Indeed, his popularity in the rest of the world, versus America, was even the basis for a comic vignette in one episode of the television series Seinfeld.

During the '90s, Mendes performed with a new group, Brasil '99, and more recently, Brasil 2000, and has been integrating the sounds of Bahian hip-hop into his music. In 1997, A&M's British division released a remastered double-CD set of the best of Mendes' music from his first seven years on the label. Most of Mendes' back catalog was reissued as the 21st century dawned, and in 2006, Concord Records released Timeless, his first album of newly recorded material in eight years. A mere two years later, Encanto appeared, including co-productions from will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas. A third album on Concord, Bom Tempo, was released in 2010. After appearances at numerous festivals and a global tour, Mendes took a short break before beginning to record again. He signed to Sony's revived OKeh imprint and cut a completely new set of songs in Los Angeles, Salvador, and Bahia, with a host of special guests and old friends, including John Legend, will.i.am., and Brazilian artists such as Carlinhos Brown, with whom he cut the first single, "One Nation," issued on One Love, One Rhythm: The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album. Mendes' album Magic was released in September.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The Beat Of Brazil was released in 1967. Sergio Mendes (piano) is featured with Sebastiao Neto (bass), Edson Maciel (trombone), Raulzinho (valve trombone), Hector Bisignani or Aurino Ferrara (tenor sax) and Edison Machado (drums). This must be the heaviest bossa-samba-jazz album Sergio Mendes ever made. Recorded in Brazil and released in the US on Atlantic it's simply some of the toughest bossa jazz ever recorded with the finest of Rio's musicians in the line-up. Check "Primitivo" and 'Neurotico" - mind-blowing stuff!

Sergio Mendes - The Beat of Brazil   (flac  159mb)

01 Nana 2:22
02 Amor Em Paz (Love In Peace) 2:54
03 Garota De Ipanema (The Girl From Ipanema) 3:18
04 Coisa No.2 2:45
05 Primitivo 4:04
06 Ela É Carioca (She's A Carioca) 2:25
07 Corcovado 4:10
08 Noa Noa 2:21
09 Desafinado 3:18
10 Neurótico 2:23

   (ogg  mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Featuring Mendes's trademark arrangements, the disc soars, as it is an instrumental journey into the sultry music that typified the decade. Dave Grusin arranged, conducted and played organ on these sessions. Sérgio is heard on piano, harpsichord and electric piano. Tom Scott, on loan from ABC, plays flute, soprano sax and piccolo. John Pisano, guest guitarist on Brasil '66's A&M debut album, is here on guitar. Larry Knechtel plays fender bass, Joe Mondragon, bass. Dom Um Romeo's the drummer, Joao Donato and Moacir Santos, percussionists. Highlights are "My Favorite Things, " "I Say a Little Prayer," the Dionne Warwick hit, "Comin' Home Baby," and "Boa Palavra (The Good Word)." Should Mike Myers decide to have his alter-ego "Austin Powers" take another trip back to groovy days of the late 60's, this will be the perfect music with which he can travel.

Sergio Mendes - Favorite Things   (flac  172mb)

01 My Favorite Things 2:52
02 Tempo Feliz (Happy Times) 2:34
03 Ponteio 2:26
04 Veleiro (The Sailboat) 3:21
05 A Banda (Parade) 2:30
06 I Say A Little Prayer 2:08
07 Comin' Home Baby 3:00
08 Boa Palavra (The Good Word) 3:08
09 O Mar É Meu Chão 3:24
10 So What's New 3:01

     (ogg    mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled "Roda" and Joao Donato's clever "The Frog," Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful "Like a Lover," Harold Lobo's carnival-esque "Tristeza," and Mendes himself (the haunting "So Many Stars" and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include "With a Little Help From My Friends" from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper LP. As things evolved, though, the one track that this album would be remembered for is the only other non-Brazilian tune, Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love," in an inventive, grandiose arrangement with a simplified bossa beat. The tune just laid there on the album until Mendes and company performed it on the Academy Awards telecast in 1968. The performance was a sonic disaster, but no matter; the public response was huge, a single was released, and it become a monster, number four on the pop charts. So much for the reported demise of bossa nova; in Sergio Mendes' assimilating, reshaping hands, allied with Herb Alpert's flawless production, it was still a gold mine.

Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 - Look Around (flac 177mb)

01 With A Little Help From My Friends 2:33
02 Roda 2:22
03 Like A Lover 3:51
04 The Frog 2:42
05 Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness) 2:52
06 The Look Of Love 2:42
07 Pradizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye) 3:03
08 Batucada (The Beat) 2:19
09 So Many Stars 4:25
10 Look Around 2:59

       (ogg  mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Having hit upon another smash formula -- cover versions of pop/rock hits backed by lavish strings, a simplified bossa nova rhythm, and the leader's piano comping -- Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 produced two more chart-busting singles, again turning to the Beatles for sustenance with the title track (number six) and Simon & Garfunkel for "Scarborough Fair" (number 16). But again, the bulk of the album was dominated by Brazilians, and by one in particular: the hugely gifted Edu Lobo, whose dramatic "Casa Forte" and infectious "Upa, Neguinho" were the best of his four songs. The tracks were longer now, the string-laden ballads (arranged by Dave Grusin) more lavish and moody, and Lani Hall emerged as the vocal star of the band, eclipsing her new partner, Karen Philipp (although Hall is upstaged on "Lapinha" by future Brasil '77 member Gracinha Leporace). Even though he had become thoroughly embedded in the consciousness of mainstream America, Mendes still managed to have it three ways, exposing first-class tunes from little-known Brazilian talent, garnering commercial hits, and also making some fine records. Cultural note: the striking foldout cover art, depicting Brasil '66 at sunset seated on top of a nude woman, somehow made it past the uptight censors of the day and no doubt boosted sales; it was Mendes' highest-charting album at number three.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Fool On The Hill     (flac  195mb)

01 Fool on the Hill 3:17
02 Festa 4:20
03 Casa Forte 4:07
04 Canto Triste 4:20
05 Upa, Neguinho 2:57
06 Lapinha 3:11
07 Scarborough Fair 3:21
08 When Summer Turns to Snow 5:10
09 Laia Ladaia (Reza) 3:12

     (ogg   mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx