Sergio Mendes

Brazilian pianist, composer and arranger, Sérgio Mendes became famous for the crossover between bossa nova and jazz, which earned him many successes with his various groups. Born in Niterói opposite Rio de Janeiro on February 11, 1941, the son of a physicist, Sérgio Santos Mendes studied piano at the conservatory and witnessed the emergence of bossa nova before becoming part of it, playing with the master Antônio Carlos Jobim. He formed a first group, Sexteto Bossa Rio, which produced the instrumental album Dance Moderno (1961), and traveled to the United States where he collaborated with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, before settling there. In 1964, the album The Swinger from Rio, in which Jobim, Art Farmer, Phil Woods and Hubert Laws participated, preceded those of the group Brasil '65 for Atlantic and Capitol. It was with the following album, Brasil '66, that Sérgio Mendes achieved popularity and posterity when he joined the A&M Records label co-founded by the pioneer Herb Alpert. The arrangements of Brazilian themes such as "Mas Que Nada" (No. 47), "One Note Samba" or hits from the pop repertoire including "The Look of Love" (No. 4) or those of The Beatles such as "The Fool on the Hill" (No. 6), contributed to the success of the albums Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (1966), Equinox (1967), Look Around (1968), Fool on the Hill (1968), Crystal Illusions (1969) and Stillness (1970), carried by the female voices of Lani Hall, Janis Hansen or Karen Philipp and assisted by the musicians Oscar Castro Neves, Dom Um Romão and the orchestrator Dave Grusin. In 1971, Brasil '77 was followed by the album País Tropical, then by Primal Roots (1972), Love Music (1973), Vintage '74 (1974), Homecooking (1976) and Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil '77 (1977), with an unchanged formula, but open to funk and a broader, typically Brazilian musical spectrum. Sérgio Mendes also released a personal album of the same name in 1975 and the soundtrack for the film Pelé (1977), dedicated to the footballer. After the short-lived Brasil '88 and its three albums in 1978-1979 and the soft-rock-leaning recordings Sérgio Mendes (1983) - which contained his biggest single hit "Never Gonna Let You Go" (No. 4) - and Confetti (1986), the band on Brasil '86 continued in this vein under the influence of synthesizers. In 1992, a large staff was invited to the album Brasileiro including Carlinhos Brown and João Bosco, hailed by a Grammy Award in the world music category, while in 2006, Timeless attracted alongside Stevie Wonder the new generation represented by The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Erykah Badu, will.i.am, Q-Tip, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Justin Timberlake and Marcelo D2, for versions revised from the angle of rap, neo-soul and reggaeton. Other artists such as Natalie Cole, Till Brönner, Juanes, Jovanotti, Vanessa da Mata or Zap Mama extended the experience on Encanto (2008), which ranked at the top of the sales of jazz (No. 60 on the Billboard 200). After Sérgio Mendes' participation in the production of the soundtracks for the films Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014), the albums Bom Tempo (2010), Magic (2014) and In the Key of Joy (2020) were released. Suffering from long Covid, Sérgio Mendes died in Los Angeles on September 5, 2024 at the age of 83.