Encanto

Tracks (Not available at Amazon's page)
1. The Look of Love - With Fergie -
2. Funky Bahia - With Siedah Garret -
3. Waters of March - With Ledisi -
4. Odo-Ya - With Carlinhos Brown -
5. Somewhere in the Hills (O Morro Nao Tem Vez) - with Natalie Cole -
6. Lugar Comum - With Dreams Come True -
7. Dreamer - With Lani Hall & Herb Alpert -
8. Morning in Rio - With Toninho Horta -
9. E Vamos La
10. Catavento - With Gracinha Leporace -
11. Acode - With Vanessa Da Mata -
12. Agua de Beber - With Will I Am -
Bonus Tracks japanese version:
13. Les Eaux De Mars (Waters of March) - With Zap Mama -
14. Y Vamos Ya (E Vamos La) - With Juanes -

This CD brings back Sergio in full speed to the music industry and in perfect shape; this is the Sergio Mendes we all like; full of those Brazilian rhythms that have made him the best embassador of Brazilian Music for 5 decades already, here you also have Sergio's Rhodes 73 keyboard very modern sound with retro elements and very importantly his guests here are:

- Sergio Mendes / Rhodes 73, Arrangements, Pianos, Clavinets, Vocals
- Gracinha Leporace / Vocals
- Paul Jackson Jr. / Electric & Acoustic Guitars
- Alphonso Johnson / Bass
- Carlinhos Brown / Compositions, Vocals, Percussions
- Natalie Cole / Vocals
- Toninho Horta / Guitars
- Mike Shapiro / Drums
- Herb Alpert / Trumpet
- Lani Hall / Vocals
- Miwa Yoshida / Vocals
- Kleber Jorge / Guitars
- Bill Cantos / Vocals
- Steve Baxter / Trombone
- Justo Almario / Flutes
- Meia Noite / Percussions
- Giunga / Compositions, Acoustic Guitar
- Vanessa da Mata / Compositions, Vocals
- Joao Donato / Compoistions, Rhodes 73 keyboard
... and many more.

Get it now, you will LOVE it.

This is a great album that will give us two hits.
(Funky Bahia and also the remake of The look of love) Both of them are contagious songs.
I agree that some conservative folks are not going to like blending the old Sergio Mendes sound with Hip Hop , but I think the sounds is modern and great.
We can also find some more conservative Sergio Mendes songs on this album for the fans that are more atttracted to the 60's sound.
The beauty about this album is that can bring different generations to enjoy an album.
The cover of the CD is also great work.

It's been around 40 years since Mendes reached an artistic and commercial peak with several classic albums that successfully mixed bossa nova, jazz, and pop music. Those albums still sound fresh today, thanks to the terrific songs, latin rhythms and some sparkling arrangements. Since then, Mendes has experimented with mixing his Brazilian sound with folk rock, funk, dance music, hip hop, and on "Encanto," some r&b. As someone who prefers the work he did with Brasil '66 to anything more recent, to my ears the album is pleasant though generally forgettable with the exception of a few wonderful tracks.

Unsurprisingly the best tracks are those with strong melodies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, in particular "Somewhere in the Hills" and "Dreamer," both of which are direct descendants of the sound of Brasil '66. "Dreamer" includes both Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, who sounds remarkably like she did when she was fronting Brasil '66. This is a genuinely stunning track and easily the best on the album. Natalie Cole sings "Somewhere in the Hills" which is appropriately jazzy and is one of Jobim's strongest melodies. Other Jobim tracks include "Waters of March" which Mendes has covered several times in the past. It's a singer's song, and sounds a little rhythmically stiff here, as it has in his previous efforts. "Morning in Rio" is also good, with a more Brazilian styled melody and a nice trombone solo.

The rest of the CD is listenable, but not such that I ever want to hear most of it again. "The Look of Love" is an unnecessary remake of a good song. What made the original great was a sensational big band arrangement which has been dropped in favor of a hip hop arrangement. I liked the Brazilian styled funk of "Odo-ya" and the mellow "Catavento" with Mendes' wife on lead vocals. On the other hand, "Funky Bahia" and "Lugar Comum," the latter of which features an Italian rapper doing a little snippet of "Volare," are disposable pop/hip hop songs.

If I could get into Mendes' head, I would try to convince him do an album of Jobim and Marcos Valle songs with Herb Alpert and Lani Hall and a small jazz/bossa combo. It might not sell a million copies, but it would be an artistic triumph. If you're an unreconstructed fan of Brasil '66 as I am, I can recommend this with reservations. You might be better off just downloading a handful of tracks. But "Dreamer" should not be missed.

"Encanto" follows the highly acclaimed 2006 collaboration with will.i.am Timeless and with this latest release, Sergio takes us even deeper into Brazil, having recorded all the basic tracks in Rio and Bahia and finally finishing up in in California, where the studio band included Alphonso Johnson.
For "Encanto" (in Spanish for Enchantment), Mendes has also enlisted the formidable and enchantingly diverse talents of an array of guest musicians who hail from the world over.
Latin superstar Juanes from Colombia and multi-talented Carlinhos Brown & Vanessa da Mata from Brazil jostle alongside the foremost Japanese pop group Dreams Come True, Belgium's Zap Mama and Italian rapper Jovanotti.
This international cast is completed by the American stars Fergie, Siedah Garrett and Herb Alpert who is accompanied by his wife, original Brasil '66 singer, Lani Hall.
Old smoothie Mendes gets jiggy on a selection of bossa-favourites with a raft of guest stars including the ubiquitous Will.i.am and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Natalie Cole and Herb Alpert et all...
This new album essentially is a cross between Mendes' soft, salsa-tinged melodies and modern day R'n'B.
The opening track, "The Look of Love" with rap/vocals by Fergie, is a deliciously moreish funky-fusion, and for the first third or so, the combination of Sergio's Rhodes with the hip-hopped production style is terrific.
Perhaps this new version of Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love", which Mendes had originally transposed to bossa nova heaven in 1967 is the boldest track on "Encanto".
This new interpretation, produced by Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, preserves the alluring melody of the original while bringing the song into the new millennium with crisp drum programming and a sexy rap by Fergie.
Then it goes all smooth jazz on you. Not bad, though.
Whether you are a Sergio Mendes fan especially the earlier stuff, Brasil 66, Equinox, etc or a Black Eyed Peas fan, or indeed R&B then there's something on this album to please everyone.
I'd say for such a challenging album there are only a couple of songs that are just to heavy hip hop for me.
The rest is a joy to listen to, if you are open minded about remixes and love to see what Sergio has been up to.
This album is a grower. The more I listen to it, the better it gets.
You will like it.
Picks of the album: "The Look of Love", "Waters Of March", "Dreamer", and "Somewhere In The Hills (O Morro Nao Tem Vez)".

Equinox
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits
The Very Best of Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66

The album debuts at # 1 of Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz and at # 60 of The Billboard 200 (Issue Date: 2008-07-12).

Still reeling from the effects of "Timeless" I certainly did not expect a follow-up this soon. I must say I was pleasantly surprised and equally satisfied from the effort of all the talented musicians involved.