Mendes, Sergio

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    Sergio Mendes: 10 Essential Songs

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    The bandleader and musician, who died on Thursday at 83, was a bridge from Brazilian music to the world — and back.Sergio Mendes earned a lasting place in international pop as a conduit between Brazilian music and the wider world. He had the genial stage presence, arranging skills and musical standards of an expert bandleader. He also had the A&R savvy and crossover instincts to latch onto potential hits and collaborate with musicians across multiple generations.Mendes carried songs from Brazil’s master songwriters — among them Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jorge Ben Jor and Carlinhos Brown — to listeners worldwide, often in English translations. He also found American and British songs that could dovetail with Brazilian rhythms. His music chose suaveness over bite, and it sometimes shaded into slick easy listening or sought an over-processed American pop sheen. Yet while he spent much of his career living in the United States, his foundations in Brazilian music stayed strong.Here, in chronological order, are 10 worthwhile songs from Sergio Mendes’s huge catalog. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music (or via YouTube links on each song title).Sergio Mendes, ‘Oba-là-là’ (1961)Mendes thought he was headed for a career in jazz on his 1961 debut album, “Dance Moderno,” which mingled Brazilian songs and American jazz standards. It opens with “Oba-là-là” by João Gilberto, an upbeat bossa nova with Mendes’s piano plinking out crisp chords and a zigzagging solo.Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, ‘Mas Que Nada’ (1966)Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 was the lineup that would bring Mendes hits through the 1960s, with women’s voices carried by breezy Brazilian rhythms. The band’s international breakthrough featured the irresistible melody of the Ben Jor song “Mas Que Nada.” The song’s lyrics, in Portuguese, praise the deep Afro-Brazilian tradition of samba. But Mendes’s finger-snapping version, with Lani Hall’s lead vocals, also uses thick, bluesy piano chords to add a touch of Nuyorican boogaloo. He remade the song repeatedly through the decades — all the way up to an EDM update this year — but his first one endures.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sergio Mendes, 83, Dies; Brought Brazilian Rhythms to the U.S. Pop Charts

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      A pianist, composer and arranger, he rose to fame with the group Brasil ’66 and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades.Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger who brought bossa nova music to a global audience in the 1960s through his ensemble, Brasil ’66, and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83.His family said in a statement that his death, in a hospital, was caused by long Covid.Mr. Mendes released more than 30 albums, won three Grammys and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for best original song (as co-writer of “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio”).His career in America took flight in 1966 with Brasil ’66 and the single “Mas Que Nada,” written by the Brazilian singer-songwriter Jorge Ben. The Mendes sound was deceptively sophisticated rhythmically but gentle on the ears, suavely amplifying the original guitar-centered murmur of bossa nova with expansive keyboard-driven arrangements and cooing vocal lines that usually included Mr. Mendes himself chiming in alongside a front line of two female singers.Signed by Herb Alpert, Mr. Mendes’s group, Brasil ’66, scored a gold record with its first release on his label, A&M Records.A&MThe group’s lilting, sensual pulse came to embody an adult contemporary cool in the 1960s that contrasted pointedly with the ascendant youth culture dominating the pop charts in the wake of the Beatles.“It was completely different from anything, and definitely completely different from rock ’n’ roll,” the Latin music scholar Leila Cobo observed in the 2020 HBO documentary “Sergio Mendes in the Key of Joy.” “But that speaks to how certain Sergio was of that sound. He didn’t try to imitate what was going on.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More