RIP Sergio Mendes

Deserves his own thread. Brought bossa nova to the masses in the 60s with Brasil '66 and continued to re-invent himself well into the 2000s.

In the way his career worked, he was kind of equal parts Herb Alpert (who "introduced" Mendes to America) in the sense of longevity, but also kind of like Miles Davis in that he experimented with different things, but mostly stuck to his core sound.

The one exception might be "Never Gonna Let You Go" which is more yacht rock than anything that comes out of Brazil, but then bossa nova sorta informs yacht rock anyway, so whatever.

Got into Mendes back in the 2000s. The Brasil '66 stuff is so smooth and the vocals are so perfect. Lani Hall's voice is to die for. Their covers are definitive, especially their Beatles covers. RIP to a great one.

 

I love his/their cover of “Fool on the Hill”. Error, that was Burt Bacharach; I meant Look of Love.

BTW speaking of trumpets, went to see Chris Botti last night because wifey got tickets and I had no clue. Forgot how enjoyable trumpet playing used to be (I was one in junior high too).

 

Brasil 66 was so cool. RIP. This to me was their definitive track

 

I was totally into them when I was a kid in the ‘60s, expanded my music interests beyond the British Invasion and the Boroadway musicals of the 50-60s that my mom constantly played. A well rounded start to my lifelong appreciation of most forms and styles of music.
‘The Look of Love’” is one of my favorite songs, perfect in fact. Can’t think of another song that has reached so many people through 3 outstanding, similar yet different, recordings. Dusty, Sergio & Brasíl ‘66 and Diana Krall all captured that slinky Bossa Nova beat with breathless vocals and deserved ‘fame’ by performing it.
Sergio Mendez imprinted some great songs into people’s consciousness. Thank you.
RIP.

 

I think every generation thinks its music is superior but the 1960s were a melting pot of awesomeness once the English invasion saved Top 40 radio from Mr. Acker Bilk, the Singing Nun and Mashed Potato Time. Good God, even Lawrence Welk had Top 40 hits!

Suddenly, the airwaves were filled with Brits, Motown, Jersey Boys, Girl Groups, Surf Music, Beach Music, Burt Bacharach's latest, songs about Galveston, Wichita and Phoenix, the Tijuana Brass and Sergio Mendez.

Rock. Pop. Folk. Soul. R&B. Latin. Country. Western, especially in Houston.

Songs have a special way of linking you to certain times and places. I remember riding the bus to school in first grade, hearing Mick Jagger complain about getting no "Satisfaction," followed perhaps by Tom Jones' "Pussycat," then Glen Campbell and Brasil '66. And the ever-present Beatles, who needed Help! or a ride on a Yellow Submarine. Or Henry the VIII, I am, I am.

If they ever are coming to take me away, haha haha, I'll gladly go as long as I'm allowed to have that music play in my head.

RIP, Sergio. You were smooth as a summer samba, taking us to exotic places we only knew from a map of the world, even as we were smelling the oil refineries and cattle poop on the way to South Houston School every morning.

 

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had vague memories of “Alibis” when I was a kid and remembered enjoying the song, but I didn’t know the title or who sang it.

I looked for it for a lot of years, But I couldn’t find it until one day, while driving, the radio station played it as a “lost hit.” I pulled over, grabbed my phone, typed in some of the lyrics on my phone, made it home, found the song, and played it about 4 or 5 times in a row.

RIP Sergio.

 

You know you’re plagerizing my memories…..

 

Doctor Don Rose, Duke Sholin, Bobby Ocean, Rick Shaw, Marvelous Mark McKay, Chuck Buell! RKO General absolutely was king when I was an impressionable young man. (Nothing against KYA.)

Man, I wanted to work at the Big 6-10, KFRC so bad. What wonderful memories of clicking the radio on after school every day and hearing those tunes.

But by the time I got back to the Bay Area after college, it was a shell of its former self. And I was destined for other things.

 

So big he couldn’t even walk down the street in South America. R.I.P.