SERGIO MENDES
Sergio Mendes
is the most internationally successful
Brazilian artist of all time. From
the mid 1960s to the late ‘70s,
Mendes established his legend by taking
numerous albums and singles, such
as “Brasil 66,” “Mas
Que Nada,” and “The Look
of Love,” to the top of the
pop charts.
It was those Sergio classics that
won the heart and mind of evolving
musical legend will.i.am, chief producer
and songwriter of the Black Eyed Peas.
One of the most successful rap acts
of this decade, the band’s 2005
album, Monkey Business, is the urban
pop crossover phenomenon of the year.
Will collaborates with Sergio on the
iconic pianist’s upcoming Concord
Records/Starbucks Hear Music album,
Timeless, Mendes’ first new
release in eight years. For Will (who
claims Mendes’ “Slow Hot
Wind,” reworked on Timeless
as “That Heat,” is the
first song he ever sampled while still
an East L.A. teen), working with Sergio
Mendes has been a dream come true.
As Will states: “This album
has been fourteen years in the making.”
Things began rolling when Will invited
Sergio to play piano on the cut “Sexy”
from the Peas’ multi-platinum
Elephunk album. Much to his amazement,
Will discovered A&M Record’s
President could arrange a meeting
with his idol. The seed was planted.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
“He came to my house with a
lot of old vinyl that I recorded many
years ago,” remembers Sergio.
“And I was so surprised. It
was like, ‘Wow!’ He knew
every song. He knows every Brazilian
riff. I could just feel his passion
for the music. We talked and I said,
‘You know what? You love Brazilian
music. Why don’t we bring the
Brazilian music and melodies to the
hip-hop urban world and put them together?
I think we can make something really
different.’”
“It turned into a wonderful
marriage of rhythms,” Sergio
continues, “because it’s
all African rhythms and haunting melodies.
It’s all about the same beats
that we inherited from Africa. It’s
that same common denominator that
brought the samba to Brazil and brought
jazz to America. We had a ball.”
“Hip-hop is urban to America,”
adds Will, “but samba and bossa
nova are urban to Brazil. It’s
two urban cultures clashing and fusing
together beautifully, because they
all share a lot of the same qualities.”
Putting together the project, Will
and Sergio, of course, brought in
the Black Eyed Peas. They also recruited
some of the biggest urban-pop artists
of the last several decades, each
a Sergio fan, to contribute to various
tracks. Featured artists include Erykah
Badu, Justin Timberlake, India.Arie,
Q-Tip, John Legend, Jill Scott, Stevie
Wonder, and members of The Roots and
Jurassic 5.
The involvement of Wonder (Mendes
wrote Portuguese lyrics to one of
Wonder’s songs many years ago)
was fortuitous.
“Perfect timing,” says
Will. “Me and Sergio had just
finished in the studio at the Record
Plant. Sergio left, and I was working
on stuff until four o’clock
in the morning. Then Venus, my partner,
says ‘Hey, Stevie Wonder’s
in the next hallway!’ So we
went over and I said, ‘Mr. Wonder,
I’m working on the new Sergio
Mendes project.’ Oh, I love
Sergio!’ he says. ‘I haven’t
seen Sergio in about 15 or 20 years.’
So I was like, ‘we’d love,
love to have you play harmonica or
sing on one of the songs.’ He
said, ‘Let me hear what you
guys got cooking up.’ So we
walked over to the room, played him
‘Consolacao.’ He says,
‘Let me get a copy of that so
I can take it home and learn the melody.’
And, then he came by two days later...”
“And it was magic,” interjects
Sergio.
“Pure magic!” agrees Will.
It’s hardly surprising, though,
that Mendes should also attract the
affection of younger superstars as
well. You see, over the last decade,
despite his absence from the recording
studio, Sergio Mendes has recently
become hip all over again. DJs have
been sampling his classic tracks in
clubs. Japanese group Pizzicato Five
have consistently named him a major
influence; same with Chicago hipsters,
the Aluminum Group.
But perhaps a little history is in
order.
Sergio Mendes has been recording since
1961, and he was playing the legendary
NYC jazz club, Birdland, with his
band by 1962. After signing to A&M
Records in 1966, he immediately became
the biggest Brazilian artist of the
decade—which is really saying
something when you consider that it
was also the decade of the bossa nova
and the huge hit, “Girl From
Ipanema,” both phenomenons.
Sort of a Brazilian counterpart to
A&M label head Herb Alpert’s
own Tijuana Brass, Mendes’ Brasil
‘66?featuring two of the sexiest,
most beautiful female vocalist of
the era, including Lain Hall (who
later married Herb Alpert)—reached
the top of the Billboard singles charts
with smashes like “The Look
of Love” (which immediately
became a perennial standard upon release),
covers of “Scarborough Fair,”
and “The Fool on the Hill,”
and, probably their signature song,
“Mas Que Nada.” Mendes’
albums kept charting throughout the
‘70s. In 1983, he scored one
of the biggest hits of his career
with the amazing “Never Going
to Let You Go,” which reached
the top of the AC, Pop and Black Singles
charts. In 1993 Mendes won a GRAMMY®
Award for his album Brasileiro.
Mendes’ music is so representative
of his native Brazil, in fact, that
the aforementioned “Mas Que
Nada,” his first hit, has become
synonymous with the country throughout
the world. You’d almost have
to be a hermit to have never heard
the track...and to not immediately
think of Brazil when you do. So it’s
only fitting that a new version of
the song should be the song Sergio
and Will agreed upon to kickoff Timeless.
“From the beginning, Will and
I decided to revisit many of the classics
of the Brazilian songbook which I
had recorded in the past,” says
Sergio. “The combination of
those great melodies and Will’s
urban vision inspired me to bring
those classics to a new dimension
and to the streets of the world. It
was very challenging, and I had a
lot of fun with it.”
Among the album’s 15 tracks—which
were recorded both in Brazil and at
House of Blues Studios in Encino,
CA—is another rerecording of
a classic Mendes track, “The
Frog,” featuring rapper Q-Tip.
Will notes that he had sampled jazzy,
Latin samba rhythms as far back as
the early ‘90s on albums like
Midnight Marauder, “so we thought
it would be a perfect match to hook
him up with Sergio.”
Romantic R&B crooner John Legend
contributed vocals to a new song,
“Please Baby Don’t,”
which Sergio recorded in Manhattan
with a band of New York-based Brazilian
musicians, offering the same type
of classic melody here (and elsewhere
throughout the entire album) that
made the pianist famous decades ago.
“It’s good for young people—and
also for musicians—to hear Sergio
Mendes,” notes Will. “Because
a lot of young music today, it’s
like there’s no melody. There
is a big old beat, which is cool.
But at the end of the day, it makes
me look at my generation and think
it’s sad because we’re
really not taking time to create beautiful
melodies that will last forever. You
know? Because a beat’s a beat.
But a melody lasts for decades. I’m
melody driven and it’s been
refreshing to work with someone who
is a master at it. When you get to
the Sergio Mendes’ level, it’s
like you can create these simple,
haunting melodies that just, boom,
make you melt. And it’s an inspiration
for me to try to get to that level.
Because that is dope.”
The respect, however, is mutual on
both sides. “For me, it was
like a learning process all the way
through,” says Sergio. “Because
he’s not only melodic, but Will
has wonderful rhythmic instincts and
ideas as well. And the way he organized
the beats with the organic Brazilian
instruments, and integrated the Protools
beats with it all, was just fascinating
because I’ve never done it before.
And it just sounds great. The other
thing I found fascinating was his
structuring of the song. Will would
get to the meat of the song, the essence
of the song, getting rid of things
that were unnecessary.”
In many ways, the guest vocalists’
involvement seemed to snowball as
the project evolved.
“I kept wondering how I was
going to get someone like Justin Timberlake
to like Brazilian music as much as
I do,” explains Will. “But
then, lo and behold, all the things
started to fall together. We were
making music and towards the end,
Justin heard the India.Arie song (which,
incidentally, happened to be the album’s
title track). From that point on,
he was like. ‘Yo! You gotta
put me on that Sergio Mendes project.
That India.Arie track is just crazy!’
And he ended up writing a song for
Sergio and me. So it just happened
like, Woosh!’ That’s how
a lot of it actually came together.”
The young with the legendary. Latin
and African polyrhythms merged with
American urban music. More than 20
years after his last phenomenal hit,
Sergio Mendes has returned with an
album that promises to be just as
phenomenal but even more revolutionary
than his past smash accomplishments.
Will explains: “In the ‘60s,
there was hippie music and, you know,
soul music and rock, blues, jazz.
And, then here comes Sergio Mendes
saying, ‘Hey, have you heard
Brazilian music?’ And he brought
it to America. He imported it. You
know what I mean? I’ve worked
with James Brown, and he’s the
one who brought funk to America. And
now I’ve worked with Sergio
Mendes, and he’s also responsible
for bringing a whole genre of music
to the United States. It’s like,
you know, Earth, Wind & Fire wouldn’t
be Earth, Wind & Fire if Sergio
Mendes hadn’t brought samba
and bossa nova to America.”
“But the only reason that you
can call Timeless a ‘Brazilian
record’ is because of Sergio
Mendes’ blood. He comes from
Brazil so therefore it’s a Brazilian
record,” he adds.
“And most of the melodies are
Brazilian,” says Sergio.
“The melodies are of Brazilian
descent,” agrees Will. “But
this album is a universal album.”
“The melody is always there,”
says Sergio. “It comes in and
makes you dream. You can dance. And
it’s a romantic thing. I think
people are going to find melodies
to take home, to remember, to get
romantic to, to dance to, to drive
to, and to dream to.
“But, overall, yes, this is
very universal.”
And, of course, timeless.
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CRITICAL QUOTES
“The blend of
Brazilian pop and urban music stylings works
so seamlessly, you have to wonder why it
had never been mashed before.”
--Mary Huhn, NEW
YORK POST, 2/12/06
“…the two
prove to have enough chemistry to make Fergie
more than a little jealous... Guests like
Jill Scott, John Legend and Justin Timberlake
help make fresh takes on Mendes hits and
other Brazilian standards, as well as new
tunes like the radiant title song, where
India.Arie reminds us that ‘kindness
is timeless.’ So, it seems, is Mendes.”
--Chuck Arnold, PEOPLE,
2/20/06
“With deep rhymes
written from a soldier’s perspective
and a pleading chorus sung by Justin Timberlake
(who also wrote the track), ‘Loose
Ends’ clinches the disc…When
Timeless succeeds, it’s beautiful,
boundary-breaking music.”
--Barry Walters, ROLLING
STONE, 2/23/05
“The deepest grooves
are struck in ‘Fo-Hop,’ with
the guitarist and singer Guinga and the
Brazilian rapper Marcelo D2. It’s
in a baião rhythm, sung in Portuguese,
with the rapid swing of the original language,
atmospheric guitar sounds and snarling rap
passages.”
--Ben Ratliff, NEW
YORK TIMES, 2/13/06
“Mendes and Peas
frontman will.i.am blend Brazilian polyrhythms,
hip-hop beats, contemporary R&B and
rap for an intriguing change of pace…However,
the original tracks-especially Legend’s
‘Please Baby Don’t’ and
‘Timeless’ with India.Arie-are
what boost the album beyond novelty status.”
--Gail Mitchell, BILLBOARD.COM,
2/13/06
“‘Mas Que
Nada,’…with its festive spirit
and pure melding of its two musical cultures,
was the real denouement for this joyous
occasion.”
--Steve Baltin, L.A.
TIMES (live review), 2/8/06
“The CD’s
finest moments feel like tributes to Mendes.
Stevie Wonder vibes up the party with his
lilting harmonica on the cuíca-flavored
‘Berimbau/Consolacao,’ and India.Arie
takes an inspiring turn toward Rio-soul
balladry on the title track. Brazilian rapper
Marcelo D2 surprises with wicked Portuguese
wordplay on the reggaetón-paced ‘Fo-Hop.’
The LA-based Mendes serves up a lifetime
of carefree Carnaval rhythms, precious keys,
and progressive timing, which are used liberally
by will.i.am to re-create smooth, blended
bossa-hop. Soon you’re floating over
Rio like a virtual Carioca, opening your
mind to the possibility that Mendes has
built another bridge, one between serious-minded
jazz-a-nova and contemporary music of the
streets.”
--Dennis Romero, TU
CUIDAD, February/March 2006
“Crossing booming
hip-hop rhythms with even deeper Brazilian
surdo and batucada, and using the layered
vocals of Jill Scott and Erkyah Badu to
recreate the exquisite sound of original
Brazil ’66 vocalists Lani Hall and
Wanda da Sah....the fission that occurs
when bossa/samba flies over a bed of hip-hop
is striking. Stevie Wonder wails beautiful
harmonica over a buoyant ‘Berimbau/Consolacao’;
Jobim’s still exotic ‘Surfboard’
is given a wonderfully deranged treatment
by the Black Eyed Peas’s will.i.am;
and India.Arie sounds peacefully earthy
and at home on the heavily programmed but
still humanized title track."
--Ken Micallef, BOSTON
PHOENIX, 1/20/06
“…a sound
that perfectly balances the best of both
the classic and the contemporary…Rap,
R&B, jazz and contemporary pop merge
seamlessly with Sergio’s international
sensibilities for scintillating tracks that
will not be denied. Pristine productions
shines on every track-even the ones that
are pure bossa nova…The infectious
‘Yes, Yes Y’all’ closes
out the set with spine-tingling piano runs,
rousing percussion and a killer vocal ensemble
comprising Black Thought of The Roots, Chali
2NA of Jurassic 5, Debi Nova & will.i.am.”
--Ifè Oshun, HIPHOPRNBSOUL.COM,
1/30/06
“Is ‘Timeless’
your standard hip-hop album? Definitely
not. Many of the tracks don’t feature
16s and a handful aren’t even sung
in English. But don’t let that get
to you. The vibe you get from this album
is simply incredible.”
--One Line, RAPREVIEWS.COM,
1/17/06
“The result is
a surprisingly balanced mix of contemporary
African-Ameriçan urban consciousness
and solid Latin jazz chops on tunes both
new and classic, such as the 1966 breakthrough
‘Más Que Nada,’ which
features lyrics sung in Portuguese rhymed
against English-language raps, sweet female
Brazilian backing vocals and a cool Sao
Paulo lounge vibe.”
--Julio Trejo, LA
PRENSA, 1/20/06
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