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.
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