Producer, composer, keyboardist and vocalist Sergio Mendes’ influence on the music industry has spanned five decades and continues to evolve through new collaborations and mediums. One of the most internationally successful Brazilian artists of all time, Mendes has recorded more than 35 albums, many of which went gold or platinum, and he’s a three-time Grammy® Award winner.
Mendes’ innovation and versatility has enabled him to collaborate with a wide range of artists. In 2006, his Timeless CD was a collaborative work with contemporary pop, rock, urban and hip-hop artists, including Justin Timberlake and Black Eyed Peas. In 2011, Mendes released his 39th album, Celebration: A Musical Journey, which represented his 50 years as a recording artist and included classics from his career as well as two new recordings.
His iconic album: HERB ALPERT PRESENTS SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL ’66 was also inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame, joining Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The U.S.A., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St., and others in the 2012 class of historically significant recordings.
In June 2014 Sergio Mendes will release his latest album MAGIC – a collection of new songs, recorded in Los Angeles and Salvador, Bahia with a host of friends and special guests. The album starts and ends with collaborations featuring Carlinhos Brown: One Nation being an anthemic and powerful song, homage to global football and to its fans, with an appealing and catchy theme. Simbora, which ends the album, is a very rhythmic and percussive song, great to dance to, and perfect for the summer parties of 2014.
John Legend and Will.I.Am are old friends of Sergio and were again at hand to collaborate on one track each: the modern pop oriented My My My My Love presents Sergio and Will at their best and its infectious groove will soon be heard around the world; John Legend’s beautiful lyrics and vocal delivery on Don’t Say Goodbye are worth listening to and will delight fans of both artists in the same way.
The Brazilian artists on the album range from legend to newcomer, but all fuse their skills in their own artistic way with Sergio’s piano sound and arrangements to create new little jewels, which rightly have what the album title suggests: Magic!
Brazilian legend Milton Nascimiento performs his own song Olha A Rua, singer Gracinha Leporace, who is Sergio’s wife, and singer in his live shows, performs the wonderful When I fell in Love, a composition by Toninho Horta with lyrics by Brenda Russell, and Hidden Waters, a new Sergio Mendes piece. The new generation of Brazilian singers is represented by Maria Gadu, singing her own lyrics on Sergio’s Meu Rio, proving exactly why she is one of the most sought after new Brazilian artists. Ana Carolina’s interpretation of Guinga’s Atlantica is a touching ballad, beautifully arranged and performed. Seu Jorge is the male voice we can hear on Sou Eu over a laidback groove with a Brazil feeling that makes you move …
Connecting all of these songs is the ‘voice’ of Sergio Mendes’ piano and the original sound of his arrangements – always full of life and delivered with a smile, like Magic the title track and only instrumental of the album, featuring saxophonist Scott Mayo.
Sergio Mendes is a man of many facets – from his work on the soundtracks for the animated movies Rio and Rio2 to performing with the young and hip as well as with the legends of almost all musical genres. He always remains true to himself and his musical vision – so clearly stated once again on his new album Magic.
The amazing artwork on the front cover of the new album is the work ‘Pianist’ by contemporary Brazilian painter Claudio Souza Pinto, whose creations have been exhibited all around the world.