Tag: Brazil

Sergio Mendes | Lapinha

Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66‘s “smash formula,” according to AllMusic, was “cover versions of pop/rock hits backed by lavish strings, a simplified bossa nova rhythm, and the leader’s piano comping.” The group’s covers of the Beatles’ “Fool on the Hill” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” reached #6 and #16 on the US pop charts, respectively. “Even though he had become thoroughly embedded in the consciousness of mainstream America, Mendes still managed to have it three ways: exposing first-class tunes from little-known Brazilian talent, garnering commercial hits, and also making some fine records.”

The San Diego Union Tribune quotes Mendes speaking about his introduction to the USA: “… the idea was to bring a band from Brazil that represented what Brazilian music is — the vitality, the romance, the rhythms, the sensuality. I was not thinking to put a label on it, but to bring Brazilian music to the world.”

The energetic “Lapinha” (1968) alternates between D major and D minor until the groove drops out for a huge shift to Eb major late in the game (2:27).

Nando Lauria | Gloria

A native of Recife, Brazil’s fifth-largest city, guitarist and vocalist Nando Lauria is perhaps known for his wordless vocals on many tracks from the Pat Metheny Group. The Chicago Tribune describes Lauria’s work as “meld(ing) the Afro-Latin sensibilities of his native Brazil with American contemporary jazz to soothing effect.” AllMusic outlines Lauria’s sound: “Rather than blazing, polyrhythmic compositions, Lauria performs romantic, hypnotic numbers. He doesn’t downplay his ethnic heritage, but the rhythms are subdued rather than bubbling, aggressive, or intense … a tight balance between electric and acoustic instrumentation and modern and vintage arrangements, with a contemporary outlook.”

The track was released on Narada Records, which Billboard describes as “an independent New Age music label … (which) evolved through an expansion of formats to include world music, jazz, Celtic music, new flamenco, acoustic guitar, and piano genre releases.” Narada started in 1979 as a mail-order business, expanding in the 1990s to include Jazz and World divisions in addition to New Age.

“Gloria” (1992) is essentially a short multi-movement piece. The first section, centered around acoustic guitar, doesn’t introduce the melody until 1:09. This intro presents less of a specifically Christmas-y mood than a gentle scene of winter wonder. At 2:30, the track is built on the contemporary Latin text for the Catholic mass Gloria segment, performed a cappella by a multi-tracked Lauria. At 3:52, the acoustic guitar returns to accompany the vocals. 4:09, 5:05, and 5:16 bring more changes, re-visiting and expanding upon previous melodic and harmonic ideas while adding and subtracting groove elements. There are several modulations, with the first substantial shift at 2:27.

Maria Rita | A História de Lily Braun

Brazilian vocalist Maria Rita began performing at the age of 24. According to her own website, the singer has said “’Finding yourself in the world is a very difficult task.'” The daughter of iconic Brazilian chanteuse Elis Regina and pianist/arranger/composer César Camargo Mariano, Maria Rita was told from early in life that she had “a duty to sing, but resisted for some time. ‘I see life as a big process built by small processes along the way. I always wanted to sing. But the question was not wanting, it was why.'” Shortly after launching her career, she won the 2002 APCA Award for Revelation of the Year from the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (São Paulo Association of Art Critics).

AllMusic details that for the 2011 album Elo, of which “A História de Lily Braun” is a part, Rita “re-creates the intimate setting of her appearances at Sao Paolo’s Tom Jazz club in 2010, as she is joined only by the trio of pianist Tiago Costa, bassist Sylvinho Mazzuca, and drummer Cuca Teixeira … To put it succinctly, this is a Brazilian nightclub chanteuse album in which Maria Rita offers her take on well-known songs by the likes of Djavan, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, and Rita Lee.” The spare trio accompaniment certainly couldn’t center the vocal an inch more than it does.

Starting in Bb minor, this sultry, funk-inflected acoustic bossa track transitions to C minor with the help of a short instrumental hinge between 1:55 – 2:00.

Celso Fonseca | Sem Resposta

Time Out Sao Paolo defines Música Popular Brasileira (Popular Brazilian Music or MPB), as “a trend in post-Bossa Nova urban popular music in Brazil that revisits typical Brazilian styles such as Samba … and other Brazilian regional music, combining them with foreign influences, such as jazz and rock … The term is often also used to describe any kind of music with Brazilian origins and ‘voice and guitar style’ that arose in the late 1960s.”

Celso Fonseca, a Brazilian composer, producer, guitarist and singer, has been active within MPB since the 1980s. Starting as an accompanist, composer, and producer, he added solo artist to his resume in the 1990s. The BBC praises Fonseca: “although (he) has played a significant part in producing much of what is good in contemporary Brazilian music, he is hardly a household name abroad.”

“Sem Resposta” (1999), which roughly translates to “No Response,” features an intro (through 0:20) in D major; a verse in D minor (heard for the first time 0:20); and a chorus in D major (0:40). The pattern continues from there.

Elaine Elias | Through the Fire

In advance of striking out on her own, Brazilian jazz pianist Elaine Elias studied at Juilliard before joining Steps Ahead, “a jazz supergroup featuring Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, Mike Manieri, and Eddie Gomez. She recorded one album with the group, Steps Ahead, in 1983,” reports AllMusic. Elias has garnered praise as a “versatile pianist and singer who has played straight-ahead jazz, fusion, and Brazilian jazz with equal skill.”

“Through the Fire,” a tune co-written by pop writer/producer David Foster, is best known for its 1984 rendition by R&B singer Chaka Khan, which reached #60 on the US Billboard pop chart, #15 on the Hot R&B/Hiphop chart, and also received substantial Adult Contemporary airplay. Elias covered the tune only a few years later, collaborating with former Return to Forever bandmates Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums) for her cover on her 1986 debut as a leader, Illusions.

Though the tune is primarily in Ab major, Elias provides an interlude in A major between the chorus and the return to the verse (first heard at 1:46 – 2:04). This harmonic shift is emphasized all the more by the suddenly gentler groove, which drops away almost completely at times. At 4:54, the interlude returns again, morphing into an extended outro featuring a solo by Clarke in his distinctively guitaristic electric bass style, shifting to C major along the way.

Milton Nascimento | O Que Será? (À Flor da Pele)

An eons-overdue MotD debut today for Milton Nascimento, about whom AllMusic.com writes: “(A) Brazilian singer/songwriter whose soaring voice and plaintive songs have inspired and influenced musicians of all kinds. Nascimento may have his roots in Brazil, but his songs have touched audiences all over the world…he caught a break when the pop singer Elis Regina recorded one of his songs, ‘Canção do Sal,’ in 1966. Regina got him a showcase on a popular Brazilian TV program; after performing at Brazil’s International Song Festival the following year, his career was launched … His 1999 album Crooner won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Album at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000.

Whatever he writes and sings about, be it the planet, ways of living, and loving and dying, his music has always carried an eternally optimistic spirit. Elis Regina has said of Nascimento: ‘If God sang, he would do it with Milton’s voice.’”

In 1976’s “O que Sera (a Flor de Pele),” a vocal duet with fellow Brazilian musician Chico Buarque, we float above the complex, fast-moving harmonies so often found in Brazilian music. We encounter modulations at 1:52, 2:49 (for the duration of an instrumental interlude), and 3:18.

Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 | The Fool on the Hill

1968 saw a distinctive cover of The Beatles‘ “The Fool on the Hill” by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66. Like the original, the tune modulates from major to minor as the verse shifts to the chorus (here at 0:47) and back again (1:03).

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mendes was enamored of the tune and thought “‘Wow, I think I can do a totally different arrangement.’ He said Paul McCartney later wrote him a letter to thank him for his version of the song.”

Sergio Mendes | Never Gonna Let You Go

A weekend bonus mod from MotD fan Christopher Larkosh:

“‘Never Gonna Let You Go'” (1983) marks a moment where Brazilian composer, keyboardist, bandleader, and performer Sergio Mendes, formerly of Brasil 66, can be considered to be fully assimilated into the US musical scene. The song was a smash hit, spending weeks on the charts — which at the time meant Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 and the TV show ‘Solid Gold.'” The Solid Gold Dancers, emblematic of the popular weekly show, apparently took their coffee break during this segment.

This tune’s keys-of-the-moment and modulations are too numerous to track: Exhibit A, the shift from the intro to the first verse (0:23).

EDIT, June 2021:

Rick Beato managed to wrestle the entire tune into submission. What a chart!

Sergio Mendes | Lua Soberana

The winner of the 1993 Recording Academy / GRAMMYs for Best World Music Album, Sergio Mendes‘ Brasilieiro featured 14 tracks, including “Lua Soberana” (Sovereign Moon). The album featured American contemporary jazz musicians such as pianist Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets and rock drummer Jeff Porcaro of Toto as well as a huge slate of Brazilian musicians.

The tune doesn’t feature one lone modulation, but rather an ever-shifting harmonic continuum.

0:00 unaccompanied verse
0:35 A major verse
1:08 multi-key chorus
1:38 A major verse
1:54 multi-key chorus
2:24 transition
2:32 B major verse
2:49 instrumental bridge
3:23 B major verse