The beat of Brazil with Sergio Mendes

Brazilian Beat

Sérgio Mendes and his band perform Friday night in Redondo Beach

In a week or so, Sérgio Mendes and his wife, Gracinha, will board an airplane for Brazil, but in the meantime they’re both preparing for tomorrow’s concert at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

As with any performer whose heyday was nearly half a century ago, Sérgio Mendes isn’t a name that rings a lot of bells among young people. However, from the middle 1960s through the end of the decade, Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 had several soft pop Top 40 hits, including “The Look of Love” and “Fool on the Hill.” But the song that pushed the group into the limelight was called “Mas que Nada,” composed by Jorge Ben, and it was the first track on the album “Herb Alpert Presents Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ‘66.”

Mendes currently lives in Woodland Hills, and he’s been a U.S. resident since 1964, when he left Brazil that November, six months after the military took control of the country. As Mendes notes, “it was a dark period in Brazil,” and it lasted for 21 years. Other musicians, who stayed, were censored or worse, and some–notably Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil–were unwillingly exiled.

Today it’s quite different, and Mendes frequently returns to his former home. “My wife has family in Rio; I have family in Niteroi,” he says, the cities just across the bay from one another. “We go every year for Christmas and New Year’s.”

Not that we’ll have freezing temperatures here, but it’s almost summer in Rio de Janeiro with warm, balmy weather always in the forecast.

A song you can’t resist

In this country, popular radio doesn’t often embrace songs that aren’t sung in English. Occasionally, however, there’s one that shoots right through the language barrier– “Dominique,” by The Singing Nun, is one example; “Sukiyaki,” by Kyu Sakamoto, is another–and then there’s the aforementioned “Mas que Nada.”

Mendes has pointed out that it was the first time that a song sung in Portuguese became a hit in America. Have there been others?

“Not that I know of,” Mendes replies, “and not only here but all over the world: The song’s huge in Japan, China, Russia… It has to do with the melody and the arrangement. It’s a very hypnotic chant.”

Mendes became aware of the song in 1962 or ‘63 when he was playing a club in Rio. “It became part of my repertoire, and then became a big hit for me. But, of course,” referring to Jorge Ben, “I’m very grateful to him that he wrote that song. Not only that song; I recorded a lot of his songs, like ‘País Tropical’ and ‘Chove Chuva.’ But my version of ‘Mas que Nada’ became the hit, so he’s very happy about that, too.”

Might he have been a little jealous?

“I’ve never asked him that question.”

There’s a YouTube video of this song with Jorge Ben (or Jorge Ben Jor as he’s been calling himself for some time) playing guitar and singing, accompanied by Gilberto Gil, also on guitar and vocals, with Sérgio Mendes on piano. Jorge Ben comes in for quite a bit of praise in Veloso’s autobiography, “Verdad tropical” (“Tropical Truth”), in which Mendes is acknowledged as helping to disseminate Ben’s music to a broader audience.

“Mas que Nada” still pops up, and sometimes in unlikely places. In 2006, will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas collaborated with Mendes on a lively hip hop version. When the group appeared on Jay Leno one couldn’t help but notice vocalist Fergie gyrating like a belly dancer, which may have disconcerted those who still recall the lilting, sensual but restrained vocals of Lani Hall and Janis Hansen (Hall, who later married Herb Alpert, added much to Mendes’ early success).

“The idea was to interpret it so the young people that didn’t know about the song could become familiar with it,” Mendes says of the Black Eyed Peas’ retooling. “And it happened.” It even happened again in 2011 with the release of the film “Rio.” “Mas que Nada” and two other songs performed by Mendes appear on the soundtrack.

In Redondo, which version of it will you do?

“Well, we’ll play a little bit of both.”

Sounds of yesterday and today

Because it’s 2016 and 50 years since 1966, which was a fairly significant year for you, is the show going to be a retrospective or a mix of old tunes and new tunes?

“I call it the musical journey,” Mendes replies. “We’re going to go back to the old bossa nova days and play songs from that period. And then songs from ‘Brasil ‘66’ of course, and songs from my newer albums.”

The most recent of these newer albums is “Magic,” released in 2014. They don’t come out as often these days, but Mendes does say that he’s planning on starting a new record in 2017 (“I’m still thinking about what songs, and the way to do it.”).

Asked what songs of his he’d like people to remember him by, Mendes adroitly sidesteps the question.

“People all over the world like different songs. Of course ‘Mas que Nada,’ yes, but people sometimes mention a song that I’ve even forgotten about. They’ll say, oh, that’s my favorite song. So I think everyone has their favorite song.”

It is, after all, the proper answer. But because he’s recorded so many albums, is it possible he doesn’t remember all of the songs he’s done?

“I pretty much remember, but yeah.”

The years have brought Mendes numerous awards, such as a Grammy in 1993 for “Brasileiro,” voted Best World Music Album, and much recognition. He has toured throughout the world, and when asked about his favorite venues the places he names range from the Hollywood Bowl to Carnegie Hall and from the Olympia in Paris to the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy. He seems also, like Tom Waits, to be big in Japan.

So, does he see himself as something as a cultural ambassador between Brazil and the United States?

“I don’t look at it that way,” he replies, but what is true is that he has opened the eyes and ears of thousands of people who might otherwise never have learned very much about the music of his native land.

In his book, “Why Is This Country Dancing?” John Krich wrote of his early exposure to a wider world of music: “Before my generation was wooed away by rock rebellion, Sérgio Mendes and Lalo Schifrin, Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd whisked me off to a land I rarely heard about in junior high. Record-liner notes, not history books, first informed me and many others that there was such a place as Brazil.”

Fame must impinge on your privacy, but it must open up wonderful doors as well.

“Yes, absolutely,” Mendes replies. “It gives you the opportunity to try new things, to discover new ways of doing what you like to do, and I have no complaints.”

Sérgio Mendes: A Celebration of 50 Years of Brasil ‘66 takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, in the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Valeria Mason opens the show. Tickets, $70 to $125, plus service fees. (800) 316-8559, or go to redondo.org/rbpac. ER

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