2014 conversation with Mendes

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One of the biggest hits of 1966, Sergio Mendes in Brazil 66.

Mendes is still going strong, headlining the Hollywood Bowl last year

and producing and writing music for the upcoming animated release Rio 2.

Mendes' song really...

In Rio from 2011's Rio was Oscar nominated.

Sergio Mendes, great to have you with us on Air Talk.

Great talking to you too, Larry.

I appreciate it.

Your musical career started back when Bossa Nova was the rage.

Share with us what it was like for you as a boy and young man, you know, growing up in Brazil in this musical hothouse environment.

Oh, that's right.

That was wonderful moments that I have fond memories of it.

We're now talking 1968.

I was playing in a nightclub in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, called the Bottles Bar.

And the Bottles Bar was a place where musicians used to come in and hang and we'd jam sessions

and, you know, around this, wonderful songs happening.

Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dan DeGoe from Ipanema and Desafinado and great melodies.

And then, you know, a lot of North American musicians coming to...

To visit us and people like Herbie Mann, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, and everybody was around.

They had to come to the Bottles Bar kind of thing.

It was kind of the Birdland of Brazil.

So that was my beginning.

So many great American musicians, like you're describing, Charlie Birdstand, Getz, others.

And so did they encourage you to come to the States to make your way?

Well, here's what happened.

I mean, because Jobim, Antonio Carlos Jobim, my dear,

friend and mentor, he wrote Desafinado and he wrote Ipanema and many other great songs.

One of the greatest songwriters of all time.

Correct.

So Charlie Bird was touring South America, Argentina, sponsored by the state government

to do a goodwill trip with South America.

So he stopped in Brazil and heard Desafinado, came back and recorded that,

became...

It became a big hit.

And then same thing with Stan Getz.

He heard, you know, I mean, I think the interesting thing is that great jazz musicians like Getz

and Charlie Bird, they were really inspired by that sound because they had played, you

know, incredible songs and this and that, but they never really had a top 10 billboard

hit.

And I think the Brazilian music really, you know...

Yeah.

...was so seductive to them.

And they...

And that...

And turned them into...

All of a sudden, they had pop records because of those melodies and because of that sound.

So that's the beginning.

And then in 1962, me and Jobim and other Brazilians, we came to Carnegie Hall to do a Bossa Nova

festival.

And then that's, you know, all the other great musicians were there, you know, Dizzy Gillespie,

Lalo Schiffer and everybody else.

So I think, to make it short, I think Brazilian music of...

The Bossa Nova was a tremendous fountain of inspiration for North American jazz musicians.

And then, you know, people like all over the world recording those great songs.

And then Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and all the other great American artists.

But you created something a little different.

I want to talk about that in case you just joined us.

Sergio Mendez with us, the composer, a keyboardist, performer, continues to perform.

And, of course...

He continues to perform and to write music, including for the upcoming animated feature

Rio 2.

He was Oscar-nominated for his composition of Real in Rio from the first Rio film.

When you came to Los Angeles and you started recording, it took you a while to kind of

find your musical voice that connected with record buyers.

Briefly, what was that process?

Well, I came in to L.A. in November of 1964.

And...

Well...

We started auditioning in clubs in L.A.

It was a jazz club called Shelly's Manhole, which, you know, was like the hub for West

Coast musicians.

So we played there and many other jazz clubs up north in San Francisco.

And we were also at the same time auditioning for record companies.

There was a studio at Melrose Avenue owned by a man named Jordy Hormel.

And he said, Sergio, can you use my studio?

So we started rehearsing there.

And so many people from record companies start coming to, you know, what they knew was a

Brazilian band rehearsing.

And they came to see us, to hear us.

And one of those visits were Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert.

They were just starting A&M Records.

They heard the band and the songs, and they asked me if I would like to join A&M.

They told me they're starting a new label.

So that was the first...

Most important door.

The first open door that was open to me, to meet Herb and Jerry and these two very dear

friends of mine.

And so, I mean, that was the beginning here with A&M starting and the Tijuana Brass.

We went out on tour with Herb and that, you know, that's when we recorded Más Que Nada,

1966.

And you found his wife.

That's right.

Well, she...

Lani was singing with my band, you know.

And you know, of course, you don't...

You don't...

She had a beautiful voice and now, you know, they're husband and wife and we see each other

a lot.

We have myself and my wife and Herb and Lani and Jerry, so it's a wonderful friendship

that I treasure a lot.

Let's talk a bit, Sergio Mendez, about writing for the first Rio and for this one.

And in fact, let's listen a little bit to Real in Rio.

This was nominated for Best Original Song, the 84th Academy Awards.

All the birds of a feather fly.

Do what we love most of all.

We are the best at rhythm and laughter.

That's why we love carnaval.

All something we can sing to.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

The sun and the ages, they move.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Dance to the music.

Passion and love.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Show us the best you can do.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

So explain for us how you happened to write this song.

Well, it's a very long piece.

I don't know.

I don't know exactly how many people sang it.

I don't know what you did.

I don't know how many people sang it.

write this piece of music and the process of making it work for the film?

Well, it all started with the meeting with Carlos Saldanha, the director of the movie.

He's from Rio de Janeiro also.

And so we met at Fox, and he told me about the story that he had in mind.

And it was a beautiful story.

And him, he's an amazing director, brilliant.

And he's very musical, and he asked me to suggest and bring some music to the movie

and to write songs, et cetera.

So then the team started with John Powell, the great songwriter, orchestrator, and composer,

and Carlos Saldanha.

I mean, that's really the starting point was the story about the birds and Carnival in Rio.

And because he's also from Rio, like me, so there was a familiarity.

We both spoke.

We spoke the language and, you know, kind of, you know, what are we going to, you know,

how are we going to, you know, make those sounds and recreate that.

So that was a real one.

You're exactly.

Oh, go ahead.

I'm sorry.

And then, you know, and then, you know, I wrote this song with Carlinhos Brown,

which is a great musician from Brazil that worked with me back in 1990.

The record I had called Brasileiro that won a Grammy.

And Carlinhos is a percussionist, composer.

Amazing musician.

So we invited Carlinhos to come into the States and to work with us on the soundtrack of Rio 1.

And I wrote that song with him and John Powell.

And Saida Garrett, which was my singer many years ago, wrote the English lyrics for.

All right.

Very good.

And we're going to hear from the new film Rio 2, Ovida, which you co-wrote.

We'll hear that a little bit later.

We're talking with Sergio Mendez, who came to international programs.

Prominence with Brazil 66, his group that had a smash hit with Más Que Nada.

And went on from there to have a number of top-selling albums, television appearances, tours around the world.

He continues to perform in, this must be your sixth or seventh decade as a professional musician.

About that.

Yeah, because you started in the early 60s, right?

That's right.

Well, I started in the 60s in Brazil.

I started playing down there, 61, 62.

Yeah.

That's right.

So, I guess six decades as a professional musician and a lot of compositions and performances along the way.

He's the executive music producer for Rio 2, a sequel to the popular animated film that is coming out soon.

When you're putting together a soundtrack for a film like this, how do you determine which songwriters, which singers, how do you cast all of that?

Well, you know, it's a collaborative process.

You know, it involves a lot of people.

When I say a lot of people, I mean, it's basically Carlos Haldane, his story, and John Powell, and myself.

And it's like, okay, how are we going to do this?

And he shows us a scene.

And then we come with suggestions.

Well, how about, like I say, on Rio 2, I said, why don't we go to Brazil to visit and meet other people?

We went to Belo Horizonte and Carlos.

Carlos met Milton Nascimento and Wakti.

Because the number two movie, the Rio 2, it's about the diversity of Brazilian music and rhythms.

And, you know, the birds, they go all the way to the Amazon.

So, we were able to really show that rhythmical diversity.

And besides Carlinhos Brown, then we had Milton, we had Wakti.

And then bringing in Janelle Monáe.

And so, it was a lot of fun.

For me, it was wonderful.

The time I had doing that.

A big part of the audience is going to be kids.

So, you have to have things that are friendly for kids.

But you've got to appeal to adults, too.

Do you take into account the age of who's going to be listening to the music?

Absolutely.

We don't lose perspective that, you know, I mean, it is for kids.

But we also want the parents and the grandparents to enjoy as well.

But, I mean, when you do an animation movie, the main, you know, audience will be young kids.

So, you have to write something that will fit the picture.

But something that's also kids can leave the movie theater singing the song with the song in their hearts.

And we go out to Olvida from the soundtrack to Rio 2.

Sergio Mendez, thanks so much for talking with us today.

We really appreciate it.

My pleasure, Larry.

Thanks so much.

Sergio Mendez started as an American performer with Brazil's 66 multiple Grammy winning claimed albums that have followed in the years since.

Thanks so much for joining us from all of us at Airtalk.

Have a wonderful afternoon.

BBC NewsHour comes up next.

LAist and Show & Tell present An Evening with David Sedaris,

the humorist, comedian,

and author and radio contributor will take the stage at the United Theatre on Broadway

to share insights, read from both published and unpublished work,

and host a live Q&A with the audience, followed by a book signing.

It's Saturday, November 16th at the United Theatre.

Tickets and information at las.com slash events.

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