This past week, one of the coolest pianists/band leaders passed away. Sergio Mendes led a jazz-pop group in the 1960s that had a number of hits on the charts with his band Brasil ‘66 (often changing the name to reflect each year of performing/touring). He was born in Brazil in 1941, and studied classical piano. He soon took interest in jazz and the rise in bossa nova music, and became a member of Carmen Miranda’s touring band.
He first formed a jazz trio, then added female singers to form Brasil ‘65, which began performing in in the US. After recording a number of low-selling albums, he hired English-speaking female singers so that they could record songs in English as well as Portuguese. Herb Alpert signed the band to A&M Records as Brasil ‘66, and they had a big international hit with “Mas que Nada.” The album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 went platinum.
Mendes would have even greater success with the Oscar-nominated song “The Look of Love,” as well as a cover of the Beatles’ song “Fool on the Hill.” The band performed for Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. While his fame lowered in the US during the 1970s, he was still immensely popular in South America. During the cocktail music craze of the 1990s, he saw a renewed interest in his music, winning a Grammy in 1992 for Brasiliero.
During the 21st century, he did a number of collaborations, including with the Black Eyed Peas, Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake. He passed away on September 5th from complications of COVID.
I remember as a little kid watching his band perform on variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and Hollywood Palace. His was the kind of music that everyone, from teens to older adults, could get into. Jazz influences, it also had the ingredients of rock, pop, and his native music samba and bossa nova. There was not a lot of flash in the instrumentation, but the band was skilled, and he knew that his female singers were eye candy as well as the perfect voices for the songs. While the music never received heavy rotation on the radio, when one of his songs did come on, you didn’t change the channel. If you were driving, it was the perfect cruising music. His work will always stand out as a great art form of pop music from Latin America.
Last night I went with my buddy Ken to see the bluegrass legend Del McCoury and his band. Now I’ve seen him already about a dozen times, and I probably would have passed on this show due to it being in Pontiac (a 40-minute drive, and I’m getting too old to stay out late and then drive home), but Ken had not seen him yet, and with Del at the age of 85, I knew that the chances of seeing him again were not as great as before.
Del still puts on a helluva show! It was funny, as 10 minutes before the start, there he is walking around the stage, making sure he has water available. His band could easily have roadies, but they still do everything for themselves. He has always loved and respected his audiences, talking to them personally between songs and taking requests. Two 45-minute sets would have probably tired out anyone else at his age, but he handled it like someone half his age. His band, consisting of his sons Ronnie and Rob, along with Jason Carter and Alan Bartram, are professional to a tee! They still do minimal miking, and choreograph their solos and harmony singing like the old days.
Yeah, he forgot the lyrics to songs a few times, but it was understandable, considering that he has a repertoire of a few hundred songs. The audience didn’t care – they loved it when he would just la-dee-dah through a verse to keep it going. He performed his trademark “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (which I reviewed as a Perfect Song in the blog https://luegra.design.blog/2021/04/17/a-perfect-song-1-del-mccoury-band-1952-vincent-black-lightning/) to a standing ovation, and had no problem taking in about a half dozen requests as is normal for his shows.
I implore you to go see the Del McCoury Band while there is still time. It is worth hours to drive to see this amazing example of a bluegrass band, as well as appreciate the legend that Del McCoury truly is.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 