
Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes spins his remarkable magic on his newest recording, a bona fide classic! This is a kaleidoscopic album that underscores the maestro's ear for addictive melodies, as well as his ability to cast incredibly talented singers and musicians from all over the world
Customer Review: a review for Brasil '66 fans
It's been around 40 years since Mendes reached an artistic and commercial peak with several classic albums that successfully mixed bossa nova, jazz, and pop music. Those albums still sound fresh today, thanks to the terrific songs, latin rhythms and some sparkling arrangements. Since then, Mendes has experimented with mixing his Brazilian sound with folk rock, funk, dance music, hip hop, and on "Encanto," some r&b. As someone who prefers the work he did with Brasil '66 to anything more recent, to my ears the album is pleasant though generally forgettable with the exception of a few wonderful tracks. Unsurprisingly the best tracks are those with strong melodies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, in particular "Somewhere in the Hills" and "Dreamer," both of which are direct descendants of the sound of Brasil '66. "Dreamer" includes both Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, who sounds remarkably like she did when she was fronting Brasil '66. This is a genuinely stunning track and easily the best on the album. Natalie Cole sings "Somewhere in the Hills" which is appropriately jazzy and is one of Jobim's strongest melodies. Other Jobim tracks include "Waters of March" which Mendes has covered several times in the past. It's a singer's song, and sounds a little rhythmically stiff here, as it has in his previous efforts. "Morning in Rio" is also good, with a more Brazilian styled melody and a nice trombone solo. The rest of the CD is listenable, but not such that I ever want to hear most of it again. "The Look of Love" is an unnecessary remake of a good song. What made the original great was a sensational big band arrangement which has been dropped in favor of a hip hop arrangement. I liked the Brazilian styled funk of "Odo-ya" and the mellow "Catavento" with Mendes' wife on lead vocals. On the other hand, "Funky Bahia" and "Lugar Comum," the latter of which features an Italian rapper doing a little snippet of "Volare," are disposable pop/hip hop songs. If I could get into Mendes' head, I would try to convince him do an album of Jobim and Marcos Valle songs with Herb Alpert and Lani Hall and a small jazz/bossa combo. It might not sell a million copies, but it would be an artistic triumph. If you're an unreconstructed fan of Brasil '66 as I am, I can recommend this with reservations. You might be better off just downloading a handful of tracks. But "Dreamer" should not be missed.
Customer Review: Summery and enchanting.
"Encanto" follows the highly acclaimed 2006 collaboration with will.i.am Timeless and with this latest release, Sergio takes us even deeper into Brazil, having recorded all the basic tracks in Rio and Bahia and finally finishing up in in California, where the studio band included Alphonso Johnson. For "Encanto" (in Spanish for Enchantment), Mendes has also enlisted the formidable and enchantingly diverse talents of an array of guest musicians who hail from the world over. Latin superstar Juanes from Colombia and multi-talented Carlinhos Brown & Vanessa da Mata from Brazil jostle alongside the foremost Japanese pop group Dreams Come True, Belgium's Zap Mama and Italian rapper Jovanotti. This international cast is completed by the American stars Fergie, Siedah Garrett and Herb Alpert who is accompanied by his wife, original Brasil '66 singer, Lani Hall. Old smoothie Mendes gets jiggy on a selection of bossa-favourites with a raft of guest stars including the ubiquitous Will.i.am and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Natalie Cole and Herb Alpert et all... This new album essentially is a cross between Mendes' soft, salsa-tinged melodies and modern day R'n'B. The opening track, "The Look of Love" with rap/vocals by Fergie, is a deliciously moreish funky-fusion, and for the first third or so, the combination of Sergio's Rhodes with the hip-hopped production style is terrific. Perhaps this new version of Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love", which Mendes had originally transposed to bossa nova heaven in 1967 is the boldest track on "Encanto". This new interpretation, produced by Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, preserves the alluring melody of the original while bringing the song into the new millennium with crisp drum programming and a sexy rap by Fergie. Then it goes all smooth jazz on you. Not bad, though. Whether you are a Sergio Mendes fan especially the earlier stuff, Brasil 66, Equinox, etc or a Black Eyed Peas fan, or indeed R&B then there's something on this album to please everyone. I'd say for such a challenging album there are only a couple of songs that are just to heavy hip hop for me. The rest is a joy to listen to, if you are open minded about remixes and love to see what Sergio has been up to. This album is a grower. The more I listen to it, the better it gets. You will like it. Picks of the album: "The Look of Love", "Waters Of March", "Dreamer", and "Somewhere In The Hills (O Morro Nao Tem Vez)". Equinox Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits The Very Best of Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66
It was the spring of 1997 and I was a sophomore in high school. I was in Austin, Texas, with about 25 other classmates from my high school. We traveled down to Austin to watch other schools, large and small, participate in the state one-act play contest. We wanted to soak up everything we could about state-quality plays after losing disappointedly in the competition circuit a few months before. Can you imagine being the theater instructor or one of the parents chaperoning such an event? With male and female high schoolers ranging in age of 15 - 18 with varying maturity levels and hormones ranging, I did not envy them. Needless to say, it was an interesting road trip.
Our theater instructor Ms. Murphy had to drive one of those school provided white utility vans hauling her share of the kids for five hours south on I-35 and around town while another parent did the same. We were "her kids" since she never had any of her own. We loved playing tricks and mind games with her, almost as much as she liked playing them on us. Every year her house was toilet papered and forked - not because we didn't like her. We loved her. That's why we didn't throw eggs.
I was riding with the group driven by one of the parents which ended up being a wild ride. We hit a couple of curbs, got lost, drove half way across Travis County the wrong way, and, I found out after the fact, almost ran out of gas! We ended up getting stopped for a taillight out, but since it was a school sponsored trip, the officer let her off with a warning and she did not have to take a defensive driving course in Austin, although she might have needed it.
After all that, we finally made it to the hotel where more hijacks insured. The next day we went and watched lots of plays. Some good, some bad, some outright confusing (all plays had to be cut from the original length to 40 minutes, most were originally 1
to 2). The road trip down there was not the highlight of the trip, nor were the plays, but I will tell you what was the most interesting part.
The next day the plays did not start until afternoon, so we piled in the white utility vans again and went to the local mall and Central Market. We were moving through the store as a group when someone pointed out to one of us with a camera that Harry Connick Jr. and Sandra Bullock were in the store and she should try to take their picture. We did just that. Harry looked like he had just gotten up from bed with some peacock hair, but he was very pleasant and congenial. Sandra looked a little peeved in the picture. She was probably on her lunch break from being on the set of Hope Floats (Fox 1998) being filmed at the time.
I don't remember any of the plays that year, but I do remember the trip down there and meeting these two actors at the height of their careers. Maybe it was a sign, or a stroke of good luck, or the just the fact that we made down there alive, but we did make to state the next year, not as audience members, but as participants.
Neil Lemons represents Comedy Defensive Driving, a state approved Texas defensive driving online course. Since 1989 Comedy Defensive Driving has helped dismiss traffic tickets and lower insurance rates. Learn about their Austin Defensive Driving course, or any other Texas city by visiting their website: http://www.comedydefensivedriving.com
dance music 2007