I recently rediscovered the album with the unwieldy title of "Herb Alpert Presents: Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66" which my mother owned. I loved it. The revelation for me was how well the guitar riff from "Day Tripper" worked as a latin piano riff. But throughout, I found myself impressed and surprised by his piano playing. I plan to check out more of his music now.
Excellent piece & thanks for the playlist! Definitely need to familiarize myself with more of his stuff - the '60s LPs show up in the 99-cent bins pretty often, next time I won't pass them by.
Nice list, Dan. Was saddened to hear of Sergio’s passing. I have loved Brasil ‘66 since childhood, and especially the intoxicating voice of Lani Hall. No one sounds like her…a completely original voice.
Great list! I love Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66 and discovered them in high school when you could find their records for a quarter at Salvation Army. They were so colorful and looked so hip, so admittedly it was the artwork that sold me at first but when i did put the albums on, I was transported. The Beatles covers were a nice entree to the whole world, but my love of 60's dinner party, easy listening music was because of Sergio Mendes. I got to see him live about 8 years ago in Redondo Beach and he still had it. Thanks Dan.
I do like it. They have better info, some actual writing on the reviews and descriptions, many older recordings have personnel info. You can purchase and download stuff and twice a year they have a big download sale. Biggest selling point is the availability of Hi fidelity streaming on many albums if you have the bandwidth and setup. CD quality is often fine for quick checking of stuff, but it’s nice to be able to listen to a higher quality stream when you want to.
Thanks for sharing, Dan. I have been fortunate in life in that I interviewed (not Sérgio, you lucky man) but Antônio Carlos Jobim, in his New York apartment. I have also been to Rio, and managed to take in a Milton Nascimento concert in a supper club while there. So, for sure, I love my Brazilian music, but have always found Mendes hard going, because it is too EASY going. In particular, every time I put on the Brasil 66 LP Look Around because of its cool sleeve, I am disappointed by its saccharine contents. Your post inspired me to re-play my other vinyl, the Sergio Mendes Trio 'In The Brazilian Bag!' This one is much more like it, so thanks for pushing me inadvertently, I like the sound of the 'I Say A Little Prayer' interpretation as well, but I think at the end of the day I still prefer my Brazilian music a little more Tropicália and a little less easy listening. Which is not to downplays his importance and influence, just a matter of personal taste!
Oh yeah, In The Brazilian Bag is a great collection of his earlier stuff. I totally get the preference for Tropicalia and classic samba/bossa nova over Sergio’s A&M stuff - and frankly, he got too smooth even for me around 1974!
I recently rediscovered the album with the unwieldy title of "Herb Alpert Presents: Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66" which my mother owned. I loved it. The revelation for me was how well the guitar riff from "Day Tripper" worked as a latin piano riff. But throughout, I found myself impressed and surprised by his piano playing. I plan to check out more of his music now.
Yeah, that’s a great cover - and a great album!
Excellent piece & thanks for the playlist! Definitely need to familiarize myself with more of his stuff - the '60s LPs show up in the 99-cent bins pretty often, next time I won't pass them by.
Definitely snap em up when you see ‘em – they’re all pretty great!
Nice list, Dan. Was saddened to hear of Sergio’s passing. I have loved Brasil ‘66 since childhood, and especially the intoxicating voice of Lani Hall. No one sounds like her…a completely original voice.
I love that a little Jewish girl from Chicago was the perfect voice for Brasil ‘66 — and that Sergio knew it as soon as he heard her sing!
Great list! I love Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66 and discovered them in high school when you could find their records for a quarter at Salvation Army. They were so colorful and looked so hip, so admittedly it was the artwork that sold me at first but when i did put the albums on, I was transported. The Beatles covers were a nice entree to the whole world, but my love of 60's dinner party, easy listening music was because of Sergio Mendes. I got to see him live about 8 years ago in Redondo Beach and he still had it. Thanks Dan.
I’m sad that I never got to see him, but stoked that you got to!
RIP Senor Mendes.
Nice playlist. Adios Sergio.
Great list, Dan. I'm pulling some of these up on Qobuz as I read. His ability to effortlessly mix bossa, pop music, and jazz is still stunning.
I’m seriously thinking about ditching Spotify for Qobuz - do you like it?
I do like it. They have better info, some actual writing on the reviews and descriptions, many older recordings have personnel info. You can purchase and download stuff and twice a year they have a big download sale. Biggest selling point is the availability of Hi fidelity streaming on many albums if you have the bandwidth and setup. CD quality is often fine for quick checking of stuff, but it’s nice to be able to listen to a higher quality stream when you want to.
That all sounds good to me. And there are ways to transfer one's Spotify playlists to Qobuz, right?
OH, yeah. I used a third party app to transfer all of mine—Soundiiz.
Awesome - thanks!
Thanks for sharing, Dan. I have been fortunate in life in that I interviewed (not Sérgio, you lucky man) but Antônio Carlos Jobim, in his New York apartment. I have also been to Rio, and managed to take in a Milton Nascimento concert in a supper club while there. So, for sure, I love my Brazilian music, but have always found Mendes hard going, because it is too EASY going. In particular, every time I put on the Brasil 66 LP Look Around because of its cool sleeve, I am disappointed by its saccharine contents. Your post inspired me to re-play my other vinyl, the Sergio Mendes Trio 'In The Brazilian Bag!' This one is much more like it, so thanks for pushing me inadvertently, I like the sound of the 'I Say A Little Prayer' interpretation as well, but I think at the end of the day I still prefer my Brazilian music a little more Tropicália and a little less easy listening. Which is not to downplays his importance and influence, just a matter of personal taste!
Oh yeah, In The Brazilian Bag is a great collection of his earlier stuff. I totally get the preference for Tropicalia and classic samba/bossa nova over Sergio’s A&M stuff - and frankly, he got too smooth even for me around 1974!