Sérgio Mendes swept into America with “Mas Que Nada” in 1966 and went on to establish immortality among connoisseurs of both classy cocktails and bossa nova rhythms. He is working on his new album and still claims to be nervous before shows—especially if he’s playing at the Hollywood Bowl. He will play the Hollywood Bowl this Wednesday. This interview by Ayse Arf.

I read that you played for Richard Nixon. What was that like?
Yes. We did a couple of concerts at the White House. One was for Richard Nixon, for the visit of now the King of Spain—he was the Prince, Juan Carlos—then. Then we played for Reagan years later for the visit of the Brazilian president. We played twice at the White House.
How was Nixon as an audience?
He was great. I mean he introduced the band and he was very funny, and for me it was a very incredible experience to be here and to play at the White House, and the now King of Spain was the guest of honor. It was a wonderful experience for me.
You use the word ‘sensual’ a lot in describing your music. What does that mean to you?
Do I use it a lot?
According to my research, you do.
Well, that’s one of the components of Brazilian music. That’s one of the things. It’s about joy. It’s about sensuality. It’s about romance. It’s about dance. It’s about rhythm. It’s a happy music.
Was it a happy childhood growing up in Niterói?
It was a lot of fun. A lot of soccer on the beach and a lot of—you know. It was a wonderful time growing up there.
Antonio Carlos Jobim is often spoken of as a mentor to you. Do you consider him to be?
Yes. Great composer—maybe the most important composer in Brazilian music. He was a good friend and I’ve recorded many of his songs through the years.
What do you feel like he taught you?
Everything from arranging to composing and sounds and chords. A lot of stuff.
Why do you record so much material by other people? What do you find appealing about that?
I like songs from all over the world. I’ve recorded Beatles songs. I’ve recorded Burt Bacharach. I’ve recorded Cole Porter, Gershwin, Jobim. I’m an interpreter, and I love great songs.
Why piano?
Because that’s where it started. I was a kid and I loved the sound of it, and I still do. That’s what I play.
What did your parents think of you wanting to become a musician?
My parents? In those days in Brazil to become a pop musician—my father was a doctor—so it was kind of a surprise when I decided that I wanted to become a musician, but they were very happy after things started happening, and they realized I was very happy doing it when I was doing it. So they really became very happy about it, although the beginning was a little difficult.
You started off playing classical music. What drew you to bossa nova?
Well—I was there at the time, and this was like early ‘60s in Brazil and the movement was starting and there was great songs and I had a band and so I was part of that beginning. I took classical lessons—the whole training—and I started to really get into jazz, and then bossa nova came in, and it was something that interests me more.
Why?
The wonderful—are you familiar with it? Wonderful songs. It was a historical time during Brazilian music, and being there at the time and having a band, I was part of the movement. It’s like being around the be-bop era in New York.
What do you think of the Hollywood Bowl?
I’m looking forward to it. It’s one of my favorite places to play.
Why?
Because—I love it with the why. You’re funny!
No one cares why I like the Hollywood Bowl.
You’re funny. Anyway. Well it’s a very special… have you been there? So you know it’s a beautiful place. It’s unique. You don’t have many places like that in the world. It’s just the atmosphere, the people. Everything about it. It’s very romantic. It’s just a wonderful place. I’ve played there many many times and I really love very much playing there.
Do you feel like after so many years of performing you kind of have everything figured out?
I’m always a little nervous before a show—a show like that. We’re doing an hour so we have to come with what kind of songs we’re going to do. It’s always a new experience. I’ve played the Bowl many, many, many, many times and it’s always fascinating because you never know what’s going to happen at the last minute. It’s a nice thing.
Do you have any rituals?
No. We rehearse a lot. That’s the ritual. We practice a lot.
But you’ve been playing with the same people for a very long time, correct?
No. It changes, you know. My drummer’s been with me for over twenty years. I have a singer that’s been with me for a year. A lot of the band members have been with me for a long time. One’s been ten years, one’s been five years. It’s a great band. They come from different places. I have people from Brazil. My bass player is from Sri Lanka, and you just meet them, and you know, whatever—‘I need a new member of the band.’ Somebody leaves or gets married so I start looking for a new one.
You’ve put out an astonishing number of albums—almost one a year for a really long time. How did you work so quickly?
I don’t think I put once a year—well, in the early days you used to do that. One album a year was the norm. Everybody used to do that. Now I would say every two, every three years.
You also took a really long break. There wasn’t really much coming out between 1996 and Timeless. What were you doing?
I was touring. I was doing concerts all over the world. I felt like it was the right time to take a break, which I did. I decided to record again when I met Will.i.am and came up with Timeless, which was a big success all over the world. And then I did another album, Encanto, and now I’m working on a new one. I just started last week. We’re going through pre-production—looking at what songs to do and who’s going to be in it. So this is pre-production time.
I know you worked with Will.i.am on the Be Cool soundtrack.
We did one number, actually—it came out great. It’s the number where Travolta dances with Thurman. What’s her name? Uma. That’s the number that I recorded with the Black Eyed Peas that they decided they wanted to use as the dance number. It was a wonderful experience. I met Will much before when he invited me to play on his album—it was Elephunk. So the movie came after the album was out and Will asked me if I wanted to be in it because that’s what this song that I played on it. It was great.
Why did you take Will.i.am to Brazil to work on Encanto?
We decided we gotta cut a few things down there, and he wanted to go, so we went. It was something that we thought was going to be a different thing, because we did Timeless all here in L.A. and to go to Bahia—to go to Rio de Janeiro to capture some of the rhythms and some of the things that you can only do when you’re down there. He liked it very much and it was wonderful to have him down there with me.
How do you keep track of what’s fresh in Brazil?
I’m always receiving new records and people always send me stuff, and you know—today with the internet. I have Brazilian television, satellite—so yes, I am very aware of what’s happening musically.
Who are some artists or movements that you find particularly exciting?
There’s a lot of things happening down there. Brazil is such a multicultural place. There’s such a diversity in Brazilian music. It’s impossible to describe just one element. I suggest that you go down there and experience it.
What do you think are five essential artists that people who want to get to know Brazilian music should explore?
Wow. I haven’t thought about that. It’s more than five, but I will give you Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Toninho Horta, Zeca Pagodinho and Marcelo D2.
I read that you recorded a bunch of escolas de samba in a parking lot.
This was an album that I did years ago called Brasileiro—that won a Grammy. I think Brasileiro represents the best the diversity that I told you about Brazilian music—the rhythms, the songs, the different styles. It’s about that, you know. You have Carlinhos Brown and his sound. You have all the artists that were part of that. It represented at the time of the best of Brazilian music. It’s a great album and I’m very proud of it.

SÉRGIO MENDES WITH EDDIE PALMIERI AND PONCHO SANCHEZ ON WED., JULY 8, AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. HIGHLAND AVE., HOLLYWOOD. 8 PM / $1-$96 / ALL AGES. HOLLYWOODBOWL.COM. SÉRGIO MENDES’ ENCANTO IS OUT NOW ON CONCORD. VISIT SÉRGIO MENDES AT SERGIOMENDESMUSIC.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/SERGIOMENDES.

Download: Arthur Verocai “Presente Grego”

(from the self-titled LP coming soon on Ubiquity)

Costa Mesa label Ubiquity—and its reissue arm Luv N Haight—have quietly announced a very limited vinyl repress of the long-gone Arthur Verocai LP, a lost masterpiece that surfaced only in 2002 and which provoked such a powerful response (Madlib has said he’d listen to it every single day!) that Verocai was able to perform his first American shows ever in Los Angeles last month. (We even got to interview him—read it here!) This record is an easy lock for any DJs—people always come running up asking what it is—and a satisfying listen start to finish. Folks into Os Mutantes, Azymuth, Jorge Ben, Norman Whitfield, Shuggie Otis, Sly Stone, Charles Stepney (of Rotary Connection) or any of those lone visionary types who made the studio into their own psychedelic instrument will want to get this and will be particularly unhappy if they miss the second chance. The album remains available on CD and iTunes, however.

Pre-order the reissue of the Verocai LP here!

ArtDontSleep and Mochilla present this video of Arthur Verocai and orchestra performing “Seriado” (from his self-titled 1972 album reissued on Luv ‘n’ Haight) on Sunday at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex as part of the Timeless series. Check out other videos from earlier performances by Mulatu Astatke as well as the debut of the Suite For Ma Dukes here, and check out our interviews with Arthur Verocai, Mulatu Astatke and the Suite For Ma Dukes’ Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, too. Next and last in the spring series will be David Axelrod performing on April 5.

Stream: Arthur Verocai “Caboclo”

(from the self-titled album reissued on Luv ‘n’ Haight)

Brazilian composer and arranger Arthur Verocai’s self-titled 1972 album is counterpart to American masterworks like Inspiration Information or Songs In The Key Of Life. After releasing this single album, Verocai left music for thirty years, returning only recently to composing and arranging. This upcoming show will be his first performance in America ever. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

Is this the first time you ever performed live in America?
Yes—the first performance live in America. But I go to New York two times, I go to Miami two times. I have work in recording studio, and I buy equipment and I travel as a tourist.
Where did you first hear American music as you grew up in Brazil?
The first American musicians? The best for me that I loved playing jazz was Wes Montgomery. And there were others. All the great jazzmen I loved. And classical music—Debussy, Maurice Ravel—Heitor Villa-Lobos, the Brazilian composer. And many others. Rachmaninoff. I like any type of good music!
You studied civil engineering, correct?
Yes, I was a civil engineer.
You’re the second composer in this series to have an engineering background—is there something connecting the two?
I think one thing don’t have anything to do with the other thing! Engineering is different—it is mathematics. It’s not like art.
Was it unusual to have full creative control on your first record?
My first album—at that time, my name was grown-up, and I asked the record label, and everything was given to me. Twelve violins, four violas, cellos, trumpet, sax, trombones, two percussionists, and piano, guitar—everything that I want, they accept. To be a composer in Brazil is not easy. But there have been others who had that opportunity. But I don’t know them.
And you used synthesizers that weren’t available in Brazil at all—what were they?
I had a guy that I knew who had a synthesizer in that time—and I contacted him and I go to his home and they explain and make a little audition of the synthesizer. But it had no keyboards. Only the synthesizer without keyboards—only electronic effects. Of phasing. And electronic effects. And I want to put in my record—the synthesizer—to make a different color of sounds. To give a diversity. Because the album was very diverse—many styles influenced. There was samba, baio, soul, rock—to do everything! Bossa nova—everything influenced me! And the album was a mix of all the ways of the music. I used them because I loved all the types.
What is the song ‘Presente Grego’ about?
About the lyrics? ‘Greek Gift’ was a metaphor—there’s a lot of metaphors because my partner who did the lyrics in this music was a guy very left political. The left side of politics. And he was very revolted with the dictatorship in Brazil. He wanted to say the things but the country was censored. He tell from metaphors—through metaphors. It means the dictatorship was giving to Brazil a Greek present—a present that was not good!
Did you ever feel threatened?
No, no—it was very light, very metaphorical. We did not have aggression and violence in the lyrics.
Did you feel any connection to tropicalia?
My music had nothing to do with tropicalia. Nothing. I was influenced by my friend Milton Nascimento. And another Brazilian composer. But not tropicalia.
What do you think of your acceptance within DJs and in hip-hop?
I love the DJs. It’s proof for my music and my songs that I composed 36 years ago that they are now found by hip-hop and makers of beats. Because they don’t compose—they compose with the sound of other people. They compose with the remixing. I like this! I am inviting it. It’s very good.
Why was there such a long time between your first album and your new work in recent years?
In 2002, it had been thirty years—and I hated the studio now because it’s not for artists. But I was working in advertising and television and commercials and scores and tracks. And jingles! Too many times. And in 2002 I want to come back to my beginning, when I begin studying bossanova, and I make the album because I stopped for too much time. I stopped my career of arranger and composer because I was not in time in 1972 and 1973. The phonographical market did not understand—did not want my work. My work that I want to make is not what they want—what the market want. And my way was to go make music in advertising. And I was very happy—I go along and my sons grow up. I am excited with this—I don’t have problem. But in 2002, my patience stopped. And I sold the studio but before I recorded the second album, and after this I begin composing. I composes pieces off guitar players—quartets and duos and guitar solo. And I compose guitar concert—for guitar and orchestra. Concert number one. This year I will release this concert.
Are people ready for your work now?
Now, the American market. The market here is very hard. There are four styles to play only in Brazil and the sound is very poor in quality. And not have harmony and good arrangements. But in United States, the people—my songs and my first albums—many samplers, huh? And I love it! I go to Los Angeles for people who like my music.
Are you working on new music?
Now am I arranging the concert. To revise all the parts. Many things! There’s a lot of work.
What is your favorite cocktail?
I like to drink whiskey. And a little wine. But I like more whiskey.

ARTDONTSLEEP, MOCHILLA AND VTECH PRESENT ARTHUR VEROCAI WITH ORCHESTRA PLUS MADLIB AND DJ NUTS AT THE LUCKMAN FINE ARTS COMPLEX AT CAL STATE LOS ANGELES, 5151 STATE UNIVERSITY DR., LOS ANGELES. 7 PM / $22.50 / ALL AGES. FURTHER INFORMATION AT VTECHPHONES.COM/TIMELESS.