Remembering Sérgio Mendes

Episode notes

(Photo by Rebecca Sapp / Getty Images for The Recording Academy )

We’re taking the moment to remember the life of Sérgio Mendes. He died last month. Mendes was 83 and had been dealing with long COVID for several months.

For a time, Mendes was one of the most famous Brazilian musicians in the world. His band Brasil ’66 was at the forefront of a bossa nova explosion that introduced the genre to listeners across the world.

On November 21, 1962, Sérgio Mendes made his Carnegie Hall debut. It was a concert that highlighted bossa nova – which literally translated as “the new trend.” At the time, he was 21 years old. Over the next few years, he and a cohort of fellow Brazilian musicians changed popular music in America and the world.

Throughout his career, Mendes collaborated with all sorts of folks, including saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Herb Alpert, Black Eyed Peas, Stevie Wonder, Janelle Monáe and many others.

When Mendes joined us nearly a decade ago he had just released Magic. Mendes talked about how his music evolved over the years and why his encounters with other musicians were so important. He also got into the show at Carnegie Hall that changed music history forever.

A version of this interview originally aired in November of 2014.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

Sérgio Mendes

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

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