Sergio Mendes - Swinger From Rio/The Beat of Brazil [2x1]

Sergio Mendes - Swinger From Rio/The Beat of Brazil [2x1]
Label - Atlantic
Recorded - 1966/1967
Style - Latin, Jazz, Brazil, Bossa, Lee Library

Tracklist:
1. Maria Moita
2. Sambinha Bossa Nova
3. Batida Diferente
4. So Danco Samba
5. Pau Brasil
6. Girl From Ipanema, The
7. Useless Panorama
8. The Dreamer
9. Primavera
10. Consolacao
11. Favela
12. Nana
13. Amor Em Paz
14. Garota De Ipanema
15. Coisa No. 2
16. Primitivo
17. Ela E Carioca (She's A Child Of Rio)
18. Corcovado
19. Noa Noa
20. D esafinado
21. Neurotico


* 2 LPs on 1 CDs: THE SWINGER FROM RIO (1966)/THE BEAT OF BRAZIL (1967).

THE SWINGER FROM RIO:

Personnel: Sergio Mendes (piano); Antonio Carlos Jobim (guitar); Hubert Laws (flute); Phil Woods (alto saxophone); Art Farmer (flugelhorn); Tiao Netto (bass); Chico DeSouza (drums).

Includes liner notes by Bob Altshuler.


THE BEAT OF BRAZIL:

Sergio Mendes (piano); Hector Bisigani, Aurino Ferreira (tenor saxophone); Edson Maciel, Raulzinho (trombone); Sebastiao Neto (bass); Edison Machado (drums).

Recorded in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. Includes original release liner notes by Frank Talmadge.

On 'The Swinger From Rio' (from http://www.317x.com/albums/m/sergiomendes/card.html):
We have become more familiar with the music of Latin America and especially that
of Brazil in the past year. The new music from Brazil (better known as bossa nova)
has been absorbed into the mainstream of our own music. This is completely natural.
While we have been listening to their music, Latin American musicians have been
listening to ours. Jazz music in particular has been fascinating to them for quite some
time, and it would be accurate to describe bossa nova as a marriage of modern
Brazilian music and American jazz. The music contained in this album is the happy
result of a meeting of Brazilian bossa nova stars and American jazz musicians.

Sergio Mendes, the young man who graces the cover of this LP is one of the
brightest talents to emerge from Brazilian music circles. He possesses a crisp piano
style that clearly dominates all of the performances in this album. The clarity of
Sergio's musical thought is always apparent whether he is soloing, playing ensemble
or accompanying someone else's solo. In addition he inspires some of the finest work
on records by the well known jazz performers, Art Farmer, Phil Woods and Hubert
Laws.

Sergio is accustomed to playing with a country's leading musicians. He became a
professional pianist at the age of sixteen. One year later he organized his own group
to perform at parties and in night clubs in and around his hometown of Niteroi which is
across the bay from the more celebrated Brazilian town of Ipanema. The composer
and musician, Antonio Carlos Jobim, heard Sergio play and was very impressed. He
gave him a great nea'fof encouragement, arid before long Sergio joined the circle of
musicians in Rio who were creating a new musical style that came to be known as
bossa nova.

It is impossible to conceive of greater musical understanding than that which is shown
by Sergio, fluegelhornist Art Farmer, saxophonist Phil Woods and flutist Hubert Laws
in this album. Listening to the way their solos dovetail one could easily assume these
musicians have worked together for many years. Sergio has the remarkable facility of
matching the tonal quality of his instrument to that of the musician with whom he is
playing. Notice for instance that when he and Art Farmer exchange phrases at the end
of Useless Panorama, the sound of their instruments maintain an even flow. On So
Danco Samba and Maria Moita there is a little more bite to Sergio's piano work to match
the drive of Phil Woods' robust saxophone style. Though these musicians may have
been born thousands of miles apart, they are truly kindred spirits.

Sergio's good friend and the man he calls his mentor. Antonio Carlos Jobim, is on hand
for many of the numbers. Better known as the composer of the classic bossa nova
tunes (Desafinado, One Note Samba, etc.), Jobim is also an accomplished guitarist.
Hear how he introduced his composition, Useless Panorama by softly phrasing the
melody. The musicians who make up the rhythm section are members of Sergio's own
trio, Tiao Netto on bass and drummer Chico DeSouza. They keep the front line swinging
in all tempos.

Geographically Sergio Mendes may be The Swinger From Rio—on the basis of his
playing in this album he could also be The Swinger From The USA.

BOB ALTSHULER


Random Amazon reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of Sergio's best jazz efforts, June 18, 2000
By Barbara J. Major "bjbear71" (Upper Darby, PA United States)

This compilation set features the talents of Sergio's Bossa Rio Sextet recorded in Brazil. To borrow a phrase from a Brazilian journalist I highly respect, this group "is tight and swinging" from the first opening bars to the last.

Unfortunately, this group only recorded a few albums in Brazil ("The Beat of Brazil" LP actually is a U.S. reissue of the Philips Brasil "Sergio Mendes and Bossa Rio" LP). We deserved to hear more from these great jazzmen, all of them.

Antonio Carlos Jobim himself did the arrangement for "Ele e Carioca" on the "Beat of Brazil" LP!

If you are a jazz fan and want to hear good solid arrangements and first class jazz piano playing by Sergio, be sure to pick up this compilation, it will not disappoint.



5.0 out of 5 stars
Jazz Bossa Nova x Non-Jazz Bossa Nova, June 30, 2000
By Carlos from Rio "Carlos from Rio" (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil) - See all my reviews

Sergio Mendes is one of those rare Brazilian artists who plays very well on both shores. This CD contains 2 albums from his Brazilian output. You should know that the album here contained "The Beat of Brazil" was originally entiled "Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada". Furthermore, you should know this is considered the best of all Mendes' output by Brazilian serious reviewers and musicians. Here @ Amazon, you'll also find Sergio Mendes samba (not jazzy) from his Brazil'66 efforts and I would not keep myself on a radical point-of-view of discarding them: it is very good samba too, though not jazzy. If I had to choose, I'd pick'em all. This CD is essential to serious Bossa Nova collectors. All stars.

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