“Every time I make a new album,” states the legendary Brazilian maestro Sergio Mendes, “it’s a new musical adventure.” Over the course of a career that has amassed an astounding track record of 35-plus albums made and millions sold, Mendes has embarked on many adventures, highlighted by his early ‘60s Bossa Rio Sextet outings in Brazil, his worldwide breakthrough Brasil’66 group (and its many iterations), his 1992 Grammy-winning milestone Brasileiro and his brilliant 2006 outing on Concord Records, Timeless, a Brazilian music-meets-hip hop collaboration with Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am.For his follow-up to 2008’s Encanto, another “enchanted celebration” of the Brazilian songbook, Mendes returns with his refreshing and invigorating new Concord Records collection, Bom Tempo. The melodies are indelible, the explosive percussion is exciting, the harmony-laced singing exhilarates, and the arrangements exude both celebration and romance. “This is bom tempo music, good times music,” says the Brazilian-born, U.S.-based producer- composer pianist-keyboardist-arranger- who sought to sum up the CD with a succinct Portuguese title. “It’s all about the good times, good weather, good tempos. The album is about the diversity, joy and sensuality of Brazilian music—songs I previously recorded and some that I never have—played by Brazilian and American musicians.”While Bom Tempo showcases tunes from the crème de la crème of Brazilian songwriters (including Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Joao Donato, Carlinhos Brown, Jorge Benjor, Milton Nascimento and Moacir Santos) and a song from his old friend Stevie Wonder, written especially for Mendes in 1977, the simmering “The Real Thing” (first recorded on Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil '77album).
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