A Great Time of Day: Sergio Mendes and "After Sunrise"

Today's tune is by the master of Brazilian inflected pop, Sergio Mendes. Sergio Mendes came along at just the time that bossa nova, a genre that combines samba with jazz, was becoming popular and he was mentored by and played with one of the founders of bossa nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim. It wasn't until Mendes came to the United States and started recording and touring, however, that he started to attract attention. Signing with producing legend Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records, he cut some jazz albums in Portuguese which had low sales. After moving over to A&M Records and taking the advice of his partner Richard Adler, he began recording material in English and included a backing group of women who could sing in both English and Portuguese. He also began touring with A&M cofounder Herb Alpert, which helped with exposure. Various incarnations of his group, including Brasil '65, Brasil '66 and Brasil '77 cut massive hits - often covering American and British hit songs with a bossa nova/flair but also bringing contemporary Brazilian tunes, like Jorge Ben's Mas Que Nada, to an American audience. He has also worked with a who's who of American musicians, such as Herb Alpert, Stevie Wonder and The Black Eyed Peas. Mendes is still working, and was nominated for an Oscar as recently as 2012 for his composition Real in Rio for the animated film Rio. You can find this song, After Sunrise, on his 1972 compilation album Four Sider, and on his 1972 album Primal Roots.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9rgio_Mendes