All language subtitles for Sergio.Mendes.In.The.Key.Of.Joy.2020.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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[playing]

There’s a word in English
that I love: "serendipity."
That’s the story of my life.

Sérgio did the, he did
the gumbo, put the gumbo
together. And, uh, it worked.

He’s a translator.

He’s tran...
He translated something

that was going on in Brazil
to the whole world.

He’s able to, um, span the
generations by collaborating

with new artists and,
and up and coming artists.

That sound was unique
in the ’60s in the ’70s
in the ’80s in the ’90s.

It’s still unique.

♪ His name is Sérgio
And he rockin’ the sound ♪

♪ He on your radio
And he throwin’ it down ♪

Some artists are just doing
it for the love the art,

and I think that’s
what Sérgio does.

[Common]
♪ Yo, make the music ♪

♪ With the sound and get busy ♪

♪ Everybody out there
Yo, get with me ♪

♪ We goin’ from Brazil
To Chi-City ♪

♪ I know we got a whole
Lot of committee ♪

♪ This is how it be
When get the sounds ♪

♪ Yo, like pocket of oil
I get around ♪

I’m here because I
love Sérgio Mendes.

Common comes in
and it’s all spontaneous.

It was nothing written.
There’s no lyrics on the chant.

He provides his rap all
the way from the beginning.

♪ That’s the most high ♪

♪ Rio De Janeiro is close by ♪

♪ I keep a close eye on
The sound piano ♪

♪ When it come to this
Y’all could just handle ♪

♪ When we go down ♪

It’s called the flavor of Rio.
It’s about Brazil.

It’s about a party,
let’s all get together,
actually enjoy life and...

- Yeah.
- You know, Brazil,
Samba, Africa,

- that whole reunion
of cultures.
- Yeah.

Getting to do this with Sérgio
is really kind of fun

but it’s, it’s also like,
uh, it was scary.

You know, is it at the level
that I would write at?

We both wanted to achieve
a vibration, a feeling,

so I was free to be
in a freestyle on this
and it’s one of the, you know,

few times that
I recorded freestyle.

♪ Never wrote this
But it’s all cool ♪

This is what we do.
The rules.

It was like listening
to a great jazz musician,

the improvisational
aspect of what he does.

He as rhythmically talking,

and his conversation
had a flavor, had soul.

Yeah.

Sabor do Rio.

Here we come.
Let the drumma.

I approached it like, hey,
I’m one of the instruments

and let the music guide
some of the rhythms,

that’s the, you know, and let
what naturally comes out.

[Sérgio]
The chant, the melody, the rap,
the rhythms, the percussion

is like, you know,
makes you feel great.

You wanna dance, you wanna
cry, you wanna hug.

[Common]
It’s always a blessing to
roll with one of the giants,

roll with somebody who is a
legend and create with them.

When I look back I wanna
be like man, I did something
with Sérgio Mendes.

I remember that day.

But it’s all cool.

This is what we do.
The rules.

[both laugh]

I like that.

[Sérgio] Niteroi, that’s where
I was born and that’s
where the adventure starts.

Jose Augusto Mendes
was my grandfather,

a good-looking black man.

He was probably
a grandson of a slave.

And on my mother’s side,
we had the Portuguese,
the colonizers.

So Santos is my middle name.

I think that mixture of
cultures in Brazil,

we had the, the natives
and then we had the Portuguese

that came and colonized Brazil.

And then they brought
the slaves like they
did in United States,

and I think that multi-culture
things that came to Brazil

really gave something very
special to the culture.

Here I am back on the street
that I used to live, uh,
between five years old

and maybe 12 and, uh,
Rua Coordenador Queiros
is the name of the street,

and I’m surprised
the building is still here.

It’s called Santa Isabel,
which is Saint Isabel.

And I used to live on
the third floor up there.

I was in between
two and three years old
that I fell in the bathtub.

Next day fever
so I went to the doctor

and I was diagnosed
having osteomyelitis,
which is a bone disease.

That kept me away from
the bicycle, the soccer,

the swimming
and everything else.

I was put in the cast
for three years.

I was carried around and
hospitals and operations.

You know, it was not easy.

One of those coincidence
and serendipity and all that,

penicillin was just
discovered in England,

and because my father
was a doctor and he had friends,

I was one of the first people
to take penicillin in Brazil

and that took care of my leg
and cured the osteomyelitis.

I remember the last time
I wear the cast,

we went to a beach close
by here, Itacoatiara Beach,

and we were like celebrating
finally my freedom,
I could walk,

I could do my thing, yeah, but
that was very, very beautiful.

And I have recollection of that
image on this beautiful rock

and I had the cast
in my hand and we all threw
the cast on the ocean.

But I cannot play ball
on the streets with the kids,
I cannot do this.

You have to be careful
this thing may come back
da-da-da-da-da.

My mother said to me,
she said, you know,
I’m gonna give you a piano,

that music was gonna bring
me some peace and some,

something to relate to it.

And I start playing classical
piano, learning music.

When I start playing,
you know, Chopin and Beethoven,

and all those things I was
like, oh that feels great.

I had a friend here
that had access to
the LPs from United States,

which was very hard to
get those in those days,

and we’ll get together
at his house and we’ll
start listening to jazz.

And, uh, so I heard
this record one time.

It was a Dave Brubeck record,
which I didn’t know,

and I heard, uh, "Take Five."

And I said, "Oh, man
what is this," you know?

It was so great, and I was,
like, fascinated.

We had like a little club
of guys listening to jazz,

going to see those fantastic
movies like Kurosawa,

Fellini, Godard, you know,
the great directors of,
you know, of the world,

and reading books, and then
the painters in, you know,

we’re like, it was almost
like the, the thirties in Paris,

but was no Paris here,
but we’re living that.

One of the painters that I fell
in love was, uh, Paul Gauguin.

Of course his art and
beautiful paintings and,

and he also fascinated
me, because the idea

that he left France
to go to the Polynesia.

So I had that fantasy, I said
one day I’m gonna leave Niteroi

and maybe move to Rio and
to United States or somewhere.

So I wrote a song,
my first song, called "Noanoa,"
inspired by Gauguin.

I had a friend of mine
that was a great guitar player
and he had this band,

and he asked me why don’t you
come and play piano, play for,
for people to dance, you know?

Oh, it was great
’cause I was like
the youngest guy on the band,

and I was like, I don’t
know, 18, 19, and we
did a lot of those balls,

and clubs, in Niteroi
and private parties

so it was like a dance band
that was my beginning.

Growing up here in Niteroi,
most people you go to the beach

and you only see Rio in front
of you, but it’s in front of
you, but it’s kind of distant,

so there’s that attraction.

It’s distant and it’s
Rio de Janeiro, it’s beautiful,

and it’s the capital
and things are happening there,
not here. We gotta go there.

I had a friend, and he was
a dentist and a piano player,

which is great.

[chuckles]
Yes.

He called me, he said,
"Listen, I cannot do this gig.

Can you cover for me for,
you know, the next week?"

And I said, "Wow," you know?

The first chance
to cross the bay

and play in a club,
the Copacabana.

So that was my first,
uh, adventure, coming to
Rio to play in a nightclub.

This is the first time
I’ve been back to the ferry for
a long time, it feels great.

I mean, it’s nothing but
joy and, uh, to be here

and it’s beautiful
weather today and
a little wind, but it’s okay.

I’m very possessive of this hat.
I don’t want the hat
to fly here, I’m sorry.

The ferry was like
taking me to Rio, taking me
to do what I love to do,

which was to play music
with my friends

so the ferry represents that,
you know, the freedom of
going and coming back.

The bossa nova’s been hanging
around in this alley in
Copacabana for a long time,

a new cult waiting
for some members.

The tourists all walked
right by on their way to
the big nightclubs.

That left this place,
the Bottles Bar, to the kids,

the ones with the expressionless
faces and the understated
way of smoking a cigarette,

but nice, romantic kids,
not at war with anybody,

like the music
in the Bottles Bar.

Well, behind me,
the Bottles Bar.

That was the first place
that I played in Rio de Janeiro,
Copacabana in 1962.

I had the trio, piano,
bass and drums.

But every night the best
musicians, the composers,
the singers,

would hang here,
would get together here
at the Bottles Bar.

[Nelson] The Bottles Bar
used to have jam sessions

and Sérgio used to play
on this jam sessions,

and, uh, we became friends,
and, uh, I became a follower

of, uh, what Sérgio was
doing, playing bossa nova.

Bossa nova in English means,
more or less like, uh, new wave.

The beat of boss nova...

[imitates bass guitar sounds]

was invented by
João Gilberto in 1958,

and was an explosion in
Brazil for the young people.

What a fresh breath
of air that bossa nova was
when it came out,

it’s just acoustic guitars
man and these beautiful
soft voices

’cause the music’s so strong
you don’t have to yell it.

So powerful, man.

[imitates bass guitar sounds]

I didn’t know much about
bossa nova as a kid.

My gateway into it is Sérgio,
and I think he’s been a lot
of people’s gateway into it.

First of all it is sensual.
It kind of takes you there,
you know?

It, it makes you
feel that sensuality,

the sexuality of, of Brazil,
the cool of Brazil.

It’s kind of mellow
and it’s infectious.

Part of the uniqueness
of Brazilian music
is the fact that,

I think, Brazil by itself,
it’s a very eclectic
mixed kind of country

so I think music is part
of that melting pot.

The African rhythms
to the European flavors,

the indigenous sounds
and the percussion.

The melting pot culture that we
carry in Brazil is this amazing,

I would say like, uh, not
even a melting pot, like
a fruit salad of like flavors.

If rock and roll is
like action movie music,

like da-da-na-na-na and
funk is like sexy and like,

and disco is like,
you know, let’s party,
forget about tomorrow,

forget about yesterday
and let’s live right now,

and hip-hop is like
braggadocios, rambunctiousness,

then bossa nova is... gentle.

It’s totally passionate music.

It’s, it’s full of joy,
it’s full of life,

it’s full of pain.

Um, if you took all
of the, all of the
emotions in the world

and put it one music,
it’s Brazilian music.

Rock and roll wasn’t, uh,

something fit for
the Copacabana, you know,

all those black leathers
and, uh, knives and,
uh, the motorcycles.

It didn’t fit in the beach, no.

Black leathers? Oh, come on.
It’s too hot for this.

And instead we found
in bossa nova,

the soundtrack of our lives,
of the new generation.

There was a very young producer.

And he asked me, he said,
"Do you wanna make a record?"

And I said,
"What, are you kidding? Yeah."

So there was a studio
in downtown Rio, two tracks,

and, uh, so I made
Dance Moderno there.

Was, uh, piano,
bass, drums, trombone.
That was my first record.

There’s a word in Portuguese,
called saudade.

Saudade’s a beautiful
word in Portuguese.
It’s like to miss something,

to miss somebody, and,
uh, it’s just... So I feel
saudade of those moments.

1962, November, first
time I came to the
United States, to New York.

Bossa nova was exploding
all over the world,

and they had a bossa nova
concert at Carnegie Hall.

And they invited me to bring
my band to New York.

And here I am in New York
with Antonio Carlos Jobim,

the most important
composer in Brazil.

He was like our colporteur,
our Gershwin,

my mentor, my teacher, friend,

and then we go for rehearsal
in Carnegie Hall.

I said, oh my, I can’t
believe I’m, you know, this
is like New York, Carnegie Hall.

Just an amazing emotion.

[Quincy]
Play Carnegie Hall,

that’s a prominent place as you
could ever play, you know.

But, uh, by that time everybody
was getting hip to it.

Everything was like going to
heaven because we heard this
music and like you know,

nobody had ever heard anything
like this before, you know?

Oh, my God, man,
’cause they call it jazz
and samba, jazz and samba.

[imitates music sounds]
You know?

And all my favorite
Brazilian people were there,
’cause it was so new then.

The day after the concert
I went to Birdland,

was the jazz cathedral
in New York,

you know, of all the great jazz
musicians played there

and Cannonball Adderley
was playing there.

So he look at me he said,
uh, ’When are you going
back to Brazil?"

I said, "This week."
He said, "No, no you stay,
stay couple weeks.

Let’s make a record together."
I said, "It’s not pos..."
So I started pinching myself.

This is not... This is not real,
you know? Cannonball asking
me to make a record.

So we did an album it
was fantastic. The whole
thing for me was like magic.

That’s the bossario sax set.

People they really
liked that sound,

because it was so different
from... ’Cause bossa nova,

most of the interpreters and,
and composers was
very minimalist,

was a guitar, acoustic
guitar and a voice,

so now two trombones
and a tenor and a drums.

Can you imagine listening to
a sax that like this with two
trombones and a tenor sax,

really blowing out?
On a small room for 40,

45 people,
they really blowing hard.

It was a different way of,
of uh, understanding
and developing bossa nova.

We used to call the...
This is heavy bossa man,

and Sérgio was the most
perfect example

of this encounter
of jazz and bossa nova.

[Sérgio]
Rio means a lot to me,

because Cidade maravilhosa,
which means marvelous city,

but really, it’s a very
inspiring city.

I’m so happy to be back in Rio
De Medellin Studio where I’ve
made so many records,

recording those songs you know
from the old days, 1962-63.

When I say, wow,
uh, I’m gonna play
with Sérgio Mendes,

everybody goes, oh man,
what are you gonna play,
that album, wow, fantastic.

I’m sorry, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. [foreign language]

[foreign language]

They were like amazing songs,
melodically, harmonically,
and rhythmically

and the, the interpretation
of the songs is an instrumental.

There’s no lyrics,
no vocals, but was
tremendous energy.

And I like that so much,
you know? When we play,
ba, ba, ba, ta, da, da, da.

It was like, hey wake up,
you know, we are here.

The name of the album was
Voce ainda nao ouviu nada.

It means, You Haven’t
Heard Anything Yet,

’cause that was really a
vanguard at the time, you know?

The motto for the revolution,
the military coup.

We’re here to clean
the country from communist,
subversion, and corruption.

Who couldn’t applaud, ah,
what that’s what we want.

And people thought
they’d stay for one year,
two year at the maximum.

That didn’t happen.

They stayed 21 years.
It became a terrible
dictatorship.

No justices, courts,
you have no rights.

You could be detained
for no reason.

People starting killing
people, torturing people.

Bossa nova was not
the type of music

for the times we were
living then, times of fear,

of violence, of, uh, division,

of, uh, prosecutions,
of, uh, militarily courts.

The country was in a convulsion.

My son, Rodrigo, was born
the sixth of April of 1964.

So about a week
after the revolution,

I sent a telegram to
a friend of mine saying,

that Rodrigo was born,
but in kind of a joking
between friends.

I said Rodrigo Mendes,
the first magic realist

of Niteroi, tell Uncle Lee
that the whole thing

it’s about loose
diapers and warm milk.

I was arrested and questioned.
I say, ’What is this?"

They thought the telegram was
a key of the anti-revolution.

The whole thing
was so surrealist.
It was like Kafka.

It was just ugly, ugly times.

I had a friend of mine,
he was my, uh, best man
in my wedding

and he worked at
the cultural division of
the Brazilian Foreign office.

I said, "Mario I must
get out of here.

I want to go to the United
States, you’re gonna help me."

I said, "I want some
airline tickets

and money to pay for my hotels."
So he look at me and said,
"You’re crazy,

but I’m gonna get
you there," which he did.
I’m so thankful to him.

I spoke a little
English, not very much.

I had the wife and
the little kid, that I had
to, I had to pay rent,

and the, the real
things of life.

I remember my bass player,
we bought a car together.

It was a Chevrolet 1951,
cost $75.

And he would drive for one week,
I would drive for the other
week. That was my first car.

Back then,
for someone to travel,

it took a huge effort,
it really did.

I can’t overstate this.

So even though he was
successful in Brazil
and even though he was known

in the States for
being successful in Brazil,

it wasn’t like he was...
Like there was this huge massive
consciousness here

of who Sérgio Mendes was.
There wasn’t.

So I put this band together,
Brasil ’65.

We were auditioning,
doing a few gigs.

We made a record
for Capital Records.

The record didn’t
go anywhere so we
kept touring all over.

Thank you very much.
We would like to
dedicate our last number

to all the people who
work here at Mother Blues.

We enjoyed very much
our time here in Chicago

and we hope we come back again
next year. Thank you very much.

Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’65
were playing at Mother Blues,

and this was their
last gig, because the group
was breaking up.

They were all going back
to Brazil except Sérgio.

He wanted to try one more
time to put a group together,

and he was looking
for a girl singer.

I walked in and I see this
beautiful young girl playing
guitar and, and singing.

I say, "Wow, what
a incredible voice," you know?

Something different
than what I’ve heard before,

very soulful, very beautiful.

He came up to me after
the show and said,

"I’m putting this new group
together called Brasil ’66,

and I’d like you
to be the lead singer."

I said, ’Well, you’ll have
to ask my father,"

’Cause, you know, I lived
with my parents, I was 19.

[Sérgio] So I went to her
apartment in Chicago.

I met Father and Mother,
and I said,

"Listen, this is what I do,

I’m a musician from Brazil
and I live in L.A."

And my father was reluctant
but he knew how much
I loved to, to sing

and he said, "Okay so if
anything happens you don’t like,

you hop on a plane,
you come home." And I never did.

♪ Well, I think I’m going
Out of my head ♪

♪ Yes I think I’m going
Out of my head ♪

She was amazing, I mean,
funny and great sense of humor,

very intelligent and incredible
voice, very musical.

You know, I would
play songs for her that
she never heard before

and some of those Brazilian
songs are very complicated
harmonically speaking,

so you have to have the ears to,

not only for the melody for,
for the changes, she had it all.

I’m forever grateful
to him, for changing the course
of my life, and he did.

[Sérgio] So Lani came
with me for California.

I put together this new band.

There was a Brazilian
girl living in town.

When I heard the two
girls singing together,
I said, man I like this sound.

You could listen to that
sound and wow, romantic,

but at the same time and
the up tempo Brazilian songs.

It’s a different sound
for me because, I mean,
I no longer have a guy

blowing a saxophone
or trombone in my ears.

The more we rehearse and
I said, "Man, this is so good."

So it was not something
really planned or...

It was something that happened
so organically, you know?

It was completely different
from anything and, uh,

definitely completely
different from rock and roll,
but that speaks to

how certain Sérgio was
of that sound, doesn’t it?

That he didn’t try to imitate

what was going on but just kind
of went into this unique path.

[Lani] We had a job to work
in a resort in the Bahamas,

and people weren’t really
responding to the music.

[Sérgio] So the owner of
the club came to me and said,
"Sérgio, you know,

"I’m sorry but, uh,
the customers here are not
too happy with the sound.

They don’t know what you’re
singing, what language is that."

[Lani] They wanna dance,
you know, they wanna dance.

So I don’t think it’s really
working but we’ll pay you.

And Sérgio said, "You mean,
you’re gonna pay me
to not play?"

And that’s what happened.

So I was fired of my first
gig with Brasil ’66.

This was 1966. We got a, a call
from our distributor in Seattle

who had heard Sérgio,
and he called us and asked
us to audition the group.

He thought they were special.

[Sérgio]
They told me they were
just starting a label, A&M,

and Herb had the Tijuana Brass,
which was huge,

was the biggest instrumental
band in the planet.

This was a big deal.
This was a big deal.

And we played a lot
of things from the sets
that we were playing in clubs.

I remember walking
down the hall and
listening to this sound,

and the sound was really,
there was something
captivating about it

’cause it was like a, a hybrid,
you know, like between
Brazilian music, Brazil...

Like a little bit jazz,
a little bit of folk,

a little bit of African blues.
It had all those elements.

♪ I must think of a way ♪

♪ Into your heart ♪

♪ Oh, there’s no reason why ♪

♪ My being shy should
Keep us apart ♪

[Herb] And then to top it off,
it had this fabulous singer,

Lani Hall, you know?

So I walked in the room
and, uh, just fell in love,

fell in love with the sound.

It was just, just very,
very unusually special,

hadn’t heard anything like it.

[Jerry] Boy what fun it was in
the studio. Being around that
music is just so much fun.

Just listening to his
keyboard work, he was brilliant,
just absolutely amazing.

The makeup of the band,
uh, was exciting,

so we went ahead and signed
Brasil ’66 and Sérgio Mendes.

Now after being fired
from a gig to be hired by
a record company,

so I had the two emotions.

I was fired then I was hired,
story of my life.

Well, you know, A&M
was on that path, you know,
of breaking down boundaries.

I was with them 12 years.

Amazing history at A&M
and Sérgio was like one
of the family, you know?

We went into the studio
and started recording,

’cause Herb was hungry
to produce us,

and that’s what
he did, he produced us.

Going to the studio to record
with Herb was really, uh,
an incredible experience for me,

because I didn’t
know much about the,
the recording part of it

and he was very fluent
in that language.

I mean, he spoke
the language beautifully.

He knew everything about
the position of microphones
and this and that.

So one day, I turned on the
radio and I hear "Mas Que Nada,"
and I say, "Oh, man."

So I called Herb, I say,
"Herb, they’re playing."

He said, "Yeah, man,
it’s a big hit, you know?"

And I say, "Wow."

[Quincy]
They have such good stuff, man.
That stuff would knock me out.

The sounds are the secret,
people don’t realize that.

A great song can make the worst
singer in the world a star,

and a bad song can’t be
saved by the three greatest
singers on the planet.

[Sérgio] This is the first time
ever that a song in Portuguese
became a world hit,

and people didn’t
know what it meant,
and it didn’t matter

because it was such
a great sound on the radio.

It just made people feel good.

Sérgio Mendes is joy.

The first album with Sérgio
was on A&M was a million
selling record, easily.

It developed Sérgio
into a major artist,

and his drawing power
with Brasil ’66 grew.

So the fact that he was able to
kind of rebrand himself entirely

and reposition himself,
and launch this incredibly
successful career here

just speaks a ton
as to his preparedness,

his talent,
how unique the sound was.

He said, um,
"That he was very lucky."

And yes, I think he was
very lucky but, of course,
luck favors the well prepared.

Brasil ’66 is something
that was invented here,

and that’s what really made
him a global phenomenon.

I never expected anything.
I mean, in terms of...

I mean, I’ve always...
I love what I do.

I mean, to play and to
perform and to write songs,

and same thing in Brazil
with the Bossa Rio sextet.

And so all of a sudden we
recording in United States,

the music is being
played all over the world,
including Brazil.

I saw Sérgio as
a winner, you know,
because it’s pretty hard

to reach the
American market, you know?

Because we speak
a different language,
you know, Portuguese.

This is... There’s
a barrier, you know,

but he was so, uh, smart,
and clever to do the...

to find a way to do that.

Wow, this guy, he go out
there, he did the thing,

you know, the perfect
blend of bossa nova, jazz,

Brazilian music, and he invented
the new kind of pop music.

It’s been about five years now
since bossa nova was introduced
to this country

and, uh, it looks like
it’s here to stay.

And we’re delighted
that one of the main
reasons for its popularity

is a group that’s with us
tonight. They’ve got the beat,
the blend and the band.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66.

♪ Chove chuva
Constant is the rain ♪

♪ Chove chuva
Endless is the pain ♪

♪ As I stand here And remember ♪

♪ That once our
Hearts were one ♪

♪ And every day
Was spring to me ♪

♪ Till you left
And took off to the sun ♪

♪ Now the days are lonely ♪

♪ The song of love is still ♪

♪ They say that
I’ll forget you ♪

♪ But I say I never will ♪

♪ And it hurts
With such a pain ♪

♪ To be a lone
And lonely in the rain ♪

♪ And it hurts with
Such a pain to be ♪

♪ Alone and lonely In the rain ♪

He was unstoppable, man.
You couldn’t stop it.

♪ The look of love ♪

♪ Is saying so much more ♪

♪ Than just words
Could ever say ♪

♪ And what my heart has heard
Well, it takes my breath away ♪

♪ I can hardly wait to hold
You feel my arms around you ♪

♪ How long I have waited ♪

♪ Waited just to love you
Now that I have found you ♪

How good was our group
on stage, musically?

Oh, uh, we were great.

♪ Day after day
Alone on the hill ♪

♪ The man with the foolish grin
Is keeping perfectly still ♪

[Sérgio]
Was Christmas of 1967, I hear
the song "Fool on the Hill."

I said, "Wow. Like, different,
you know? Different melody."

And I said, "Man I think I have
an idea for an arrangement."

Let’s see if we can bring
that melody to Brazil

and arrange it in
a different way of course,
otherwise, why would I do it?

The whole idea of, you know,
interpret the song

was to do it in a different way.

And as soon as I heard
the arrangement the vocals,

I call Herb, I said, "Man, let’s
record this thing, you know?"

It’s like feels so good
all of the sudden, you know,

and it’s like, oh, my God,
I’m in heaven again.

So when we finished the album,
"Fool on the Hill,"

and they said,
"We wanna show you
the album cover."

And I see this beautiful
picture, looks like a, you know,
a mountain on the air.

And I saw these gorgeous
undulations,

and there was a hill.

And I said, "Man that’s
so beautiful." And they...
it looked gorgeous.

But I didn’t really
pay attention on the hill.

And then people told me,
you know, this is a lady
laying down naked.

I said, "Oh, okay, you know."
And so... But the best part
of the story is that,

so A&M was gonna release
the album like that.

And then they had
a lot of phone calls
from record stores,

"Oh, we cannot
release this record."

I said, "Why you cannot
release?"

"Because it’s showing a nipple,

and we’re not gonna put
that in the, on the..." What?

Well, we’ll put a sticker
with the names of the song

and you’ll never see
that nipple or the hill,
so the fool on the hill.

Every one of Sérgio’s records
was either gold or platinum
throughout those years.

What Sérgio did in the mid-
to late ’60s was phenomenal.

[Herb] Man I, can’t say
enough good things about him,

because, you know, without him I
would’ve never met Lani, because
he became Cupid for me.

I remember Lani telling me,
"Sérgio, you know,

I’m gonna leave the band."
And I said, "Wow."

Was like a big surprise for me,

because she was the sound
of Brasil ’66 and, uh,

part of that whole
thing was her voice,
you know, and I said, "Wow."

♪ The dawn is
Filled with dreams ♪

♪ So many dreams
Which one is mine ♪

It was difficult for me
to leave, but Herb
was no longer traveling,

and I knew that

I couldn’t have a relationship
if I’m on the road 11 months
out of the year.

I have to show up
for this relationship,

and I took a chance and I knew
that I was burying myself

with the idea of, if it
doesn’t work, can I come back?

That was not gonna happen.
Sérgio was ver...

I think he was
very hurt that I left.

But, um, I was in love
and I followed love.

♪ ...all the songs ♪

♪ When there’s a song
For every star ♪

I was kind of sad,
but at the same time happy,

because I knew that she
and Herb, they love each other.

That was gonna be something
that beautiful, beautiful story.

[Herb] Lani and I have been
married for 43 years,

and it’s the best that
ever happened in my life.

The risks when
a lead singer leaves

or when a key member
of a band leaves is huge.

Bands work, because
there’s a certain energy
that ties them together,

and then you take one of those
elements away, and what
do you do?

And especially if it’s
the vocal, the vocal
is what people hear.

I was not disappointed to her,
but I was kinda sad.

Said, "What am I gonna do now,
you know, now, you know?" So...

♪ Which one to choose
Which way to go ♪

♪ How I can tell how
Will I know how... ♪

[Gracinha] Lani had been
with him since the beginning,

and the other singers
came and went, but she
was the main singer.

She was supposed to stay in the
band until the end of the year,

and I started singing with
Sérgio with the, with Brasil ’66

while she was leaving,
so I would one sh... Uh,
show she would do another

and then she started
doing less and less.

[Nelson] Gracinha became
an instant Brazilian darling.

Seventeen years old, so graceful
as her, her name said

and singing very well,
crystal voice,

and the country
became in love with Gracinha.

♪ How I envy the cup
That knows your lips ♪

♪ Let it be me my love ♪

♪ And a table that
Feels your fingertips ♪

♪ Let it be me
Let me be your love ♪

[Gracinha] I started my career
in 1967 in Brazil,

and Sérgio in ’68, he came
to Brazil for the first
time with Brasil ’66 to tour,

and he came to see
a show that I was doing
with some friends of his.

[Sérgio] I heard her sing,
and I think was like,
fell in love immediately.

So original, you know,
so different, that trademark,

you know, has that sound that
only her can have that sound.

After Lani left the band
and I moved to Brasil ’66,
that was it.

[Harrison Ford]
I bought a house in
Hollywood Hills for $10,000,

which was worth about
what it sounds like.

I had a young family. I was
starting to remodel this house.

I didn’t really know anything
about carpentry,

uh, except that, um, uh,
what I had observed in
a couple of books.

I bought some lumber
and I bought some tools,
and then I ran out of money.

I decided to build a studio
in my house in Encino

’cause it was one of my dreams
to have a studio in my backyard

that I could record
any time I wanted, you know,
that kind of a dream.

[Harrison]
And a friend of mine was
working as a recording engineer

at, uh, A&M and working
with Sérgio.

He suggested that maybe
I should entertain
the thought of,

uh, of trying to get
this job at, at Sérgio’s,

which was outrageous to
start with, since I didn’t
really know anything about it.

Nonetheless, uh,
an appointment was arranged.

I went out to Sérgio’s place,
uh, met him one morning
quite early.

He arrived in his, uh,
bathrobe, uh, with a cigar

and we strolled around
the backyard and he was
very sweet, very nice.

And I liked him immediately.
He was one of those

just felt he was a right guy,
I don’t know why.

The most important
point here is that Sérgio forgot

to ask me whether I had
ever done it before.

I was an actor.

You just make shit up.

Is that not right?

I can’t remember whether
we had a permit or not,

um, but, I drew the plans
and, uh, and we built it.

[Sérgio] I had a magnolia tree,
beautiful tree,

he would sit and start
reading scripts, you know?

And I said... And he told me,
"Listen, I wanna be an actor,

and that’s my passion,"
you know?

It’s like, and I said,
"Great," you know?

Possible, possible, I’m sure
I was on my lunch hour.

Sérgio was very patient
about the whole thing.

Absolutely charming, generous,

it was a kind
of a dream project.

I did parlay that job into
another job, into another job,

and I had a very, uh...

A very good career
as a carpenter.

He did such an incredible
job, and so that was
my dream, you know.

He was building my dream
in my backyard, and I made
so many records there.

Would I have hired me?

Fuck no.

[laughter]

No.

So, uh, I guess 1972,

and, uh, my marriage was not
working, and, uh, I was
just... We were too young.

We got married too young
and, uh, so divorce comes
in and I kinda felt,

I felt sad, but I felt more sad

for the fact that
the children were going back
to Brazil with their mother.

So that for me was very,
very hard, very difficult,

and I had to sit down
with them and tell them that
I was divorcing their mother.

They could not understand
and for me telling them
the truth was very painful.

The fact that they’re
gonna go to Brazil,
I’m not gonna see them,

so that was very,
very difficult for me to,
to handle that moment.

Having that separation, all of
a sudden lose all that that he
constructed and built was just,

you know, tough and,
you know, they, he did,

like my mom, did the best
that they could.

My dad every Sunday called us
no matter where it was,

every Sunday, so I know
to expect that call.

That showed a commitment
of a father, I think.

[Isabela] We would visit my dad
every summer and every winter.

You know, it’s so hard
to spend a lotta quality
time in a month’s time,

but my dad made
it work, you know?

It was not about quantity,
it was about quality.

When I think about my family,
for me is the most important
thing in my life, period.

It’s a kind of feeling
I don’t know how to describe.

It’s just a very warm,
very safe kind of feeling.

It’s a wonderful thing.

He got divorced in ’72,
and I was well aware that I was,

you know, that I was in love
with him but, you know,

he was not free so after
his divorce we started,

you know, getting together and,
uh, we decided we were gonna

try and see what happened
and, uh, the kids were very,
very easy with that,

because they liked me
and they knew me.

So we just moved in together
and that was it and,

uh, and the rest is
history and here we are.

If I had to write a movie
about musicians,

and what love could look like

if you’ve traveled the world
singing and music was your life,

and now your wife is your life
and you met through music,

Sérgio and Gracinha would
be the perfect stars.

[Sérgio] There’s this
complicity that I love.

I think the complicity’s
it’s a great word to
describe our relationship.

In Portuguese we call,
cumplicidade.

It’s like I love the word
in Portuguese and English,

because it means this,
you know, the embrace.

To have complicity
like I have with Gracinha,

it’s beyond explanation, it’s
just a wonderful thing to have.

We have a wonderful
thing in our relationship
which is laughter.

We have a lot of fun.
There’s so many
positive things,

that we need another
hour for that one.

Gracinha’s an important
ingredient for Sérgio.

She’s kinda like
the stabilizer, you know?

It’s fun to watch them,
because they’re lovely together.

They’re both really smart,

and they both have
a great sense of humor.

There’s a lot of laughter,
and a lot of music.

There’s so much joy
between the two of them,

there’s so much comfort
because not only are
they husband and wife,

but they’ve been working
together for so long that
there’s a...

There’s a beautiful trust that
they have with one another.

My mom and dad are quite
the pair, an amazing team.

I’d like to say that it’s
a symbiotic relationship

but I think he may
need her a little more.

[Gracinha]
When Sérgio and I got together,
he had three children.

They didn’t live with us full
time. For the first few years,

they lived in Brazil with their
mother, and then in 1983,
they came to live with us.

Then we had two sons
together, Gustavo and Tiago,

and, uh, we became the big
family that I always dreamt of,

because I come from
a very big family.

They also know that there’s an
enormous interest in their lives
and being there for them,

you know, and they know they,
they can count on him,
and he’s there for them.

He’s very proud of all
of us, and it’s really very...

It’s nice to be his son.

♪ A stick a stone
It’s the end of the road ♪

♪ It’s the rest of a stump
It’s a little alone ♪

♪ It’s a sliver of glass
It is life, it’s the sun ♪

♪ It is night, it is death
It’s a trap, it’s a gun ♪

♪ The oak when it blooms
A fox in the brush ♪

♪ A knot in the wood
The song of a thrush ♪

The ’70s were really
a very strange time of, uh,
of our lives in terms of music.

It’s so hard to maintain
momentum as a recording artist

and to have people interested
in your music as fads change,

and it’s a challenge, right?

Because you want to maintain
the integrity of your sound.

You don’t want to
"sell out" to whatever’s
happening on the air,

but then you do
risk sounding dated.

It’s a journey when it comes
to music and life and career,

um, and that journey is not
always the mountain top.

That journey is not always
the highs, and it’s like really,

the things you learn
while you’re in that valley
that you could take up and,

and build into character
traits that when you
at the mountaintop,

you like can really
enjoy it, be real
with it, be authentic.

I think perhaps he didn’t evolve
at that point in time,

and people started to
associate it with old music.

♪ A must a thrust a bump ♪

♪ It’s a girl, it’s a rhyme
It’s a cold, it’s the mumps ♪

Pelé was born in a city
called three hearts, yes.

He’s a man with three hearts.

When you talk about
Pelé, uh, genius.

Uh, it’s like one of
a kind. It’s never been
anybody like him.

He’s the best soccer
player ever in the world.

I saw him playing, it’s amazing.

[Gracinha]
It was a documentary about Pelé
done by this French director.

They invited Sérgio
to do the soundtrack.

So Pelé used to come
and stay with us in L.A.

He wrote a couple of songs,

and actually Sérgio picked
up those songs

and developed
the soundtrack pretty
much based upon those songs.

I would not think of
Pelé as a singer.

I don’t think of
Pelé as a singer,

but I still would listen
to Pelé singing with
Sérgio Mendes.

[clapping]

That was great.

Are you kidding me?
You’re never gonna
see me that happy again.

Woo!

No. Again, again,
let’s do it again.

Do it again, do it again.

I’ve been working on the new
album now for two years,

and in Brazil, in Rio
and here in Los Angeles.

The percussion department,
which brings the essential
joy to the project,

I recorded in Brazil with the
best percussionists in Brazil.

His name is Pretinho da Serrinha
and his nephew,

young 10-year-old
percussionist, so that
for me was like amazing.

♪ Samba in the corner ♪

♪ Dancing, drinking, thinking
Back to grooving ♪

Then I came here to L.A.
where I live,

and I recorded a lot
of music with young singers.

♪ Movin’, samba in heaven ♪

♪ Strollin’ the beaches
Like when we were lovers ♪

I have this young girl,
she’s my goddaughter.

Her artistic name is Sugar
Jones, an unbelievable voice.

♪ You give me, you give
You give me fever ♪

♪ You give me, you give me
You give me fever ♪

That’s great. That’s beautiful.
Sugar, you’re the best.

- Thank you.
- Really sounds incredible.

Can we do it again?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[speaks Spanish]

I recorded a song for
the first time in Spanish,
which I always wanted to do.

So I met with two young
kids from Colombia.

They’re brothers, and they call
themselves Cali and Dandee.

All of a sudden we have this
combination of Brazilian
rhythms and reggaeton,

and the two of them
singing in Spanish.

This is an incredible
joy for me to be making
a record like that

with so many different
people collaborating
and being part of it

and putting their
hearts on the line.

- Whoo!
- Yes!

We love it.

He hadn’t recorded in
America for like three years,
something like that,

so he started getting
excited and he did this album.

This whole album was
not very Brazilian; it was
a pretty much pop album.

I had finished the album
and the album was being mixed.

And this song arrives in
the mailbox, little cassette.

I mean, I was in love
with that melody and
the changes and the chords.

Sérgio heard the song
and said, "Well, my...
But my album is done."

And I said, "Well,
just start again."

[Sérgio]
So I met Joe Pizzulo.

♪ Hold your body Close to mine ♪

I literally was
learning it driving to
the studio to meet Sérgio.

I walked in and I met him
and he did, run through
the formalities,

I walked into the booth
and pressed the button.

I started singing, and I went
through verse and the first
chorus and he stopped me,

which is usually, you sound
great, we’ll get back to you.

And instead of that he said,
"You’re perfect for the song.

Let’s record it."
And we literally
recorded it that night.

I never heard of
a male voice like that,
beautiful voice, very soulful.

We lay down the track.
It didn’t take long.
Maybe three, four hours.

It was like one of those songs
that almost missed the boat,
right? Almost missed the album.

Sérgio was... He was having,
like a cold spell
there for a year or so,

I’m not sure it might’ve
been longer, and then he
came into my office one day

and he had this master
of "Never Gonna Let You Go."

I put it on, and loved it.
It didn’t sound like
Sérgio and Brasil ’66,

but there was something
about it. It was a great song

and it was a great
performance and it was
a beautiful arrangement.

I picked it up, you know,
for A&M and it was
the number one record.

I can’t get over the fact
that that’s what he did.

It’s a pop song,
where he plays keyboard.

♪ I’m never gonna let you go ♪

♪ I’m gonna hold you
In my arms forever ♪

♪ Gonna try and make up for
All the times I hurt you so ♪

It’s not a comeback that
people immediately think,
oh, that’s Sérgio Mendes,

but it was such a big song that
it kind of transcended that,

and it definitely put
him on the map again.

[Sérgio] Not only here,
everywhere in the world.

In Brazil, in Japan, in Europe.

Ended up being one of the
biggest records of my career.

For me to go back to A&M
and have another hit record,

I mean, it was, it could not
been better. I could not have
planned anything like that.

♪ Never gonna let you go ♪

♪ Hold you in my arms forever ♪

♪ Gonna try and make
Up for all the times ♪

♪ I hurt you so ♪

♪ Hold your body Close to mine ♪

♪ Are we gonna be together ♪

♪ Oh, I swear this time... ♪

For the next nine years,
he did some very nice albums.

He did a couple of
very Brazilian albums with
very good Brazilian songs,

none of the songs
as successful as "Never
Gonna Let You Go," for sure.

[Common] It’s like, well, you
might not have sold that many
records as you did before.

If you do it because you really
love music, that low point,

that was his moment,
and even though it might not
have been widely received,

it was an expression of me,
and I’m glad I released that.

And I’m gonna move
to the next and create
something else

that I hope lights up the world.

[Gracinha] His contract with A&M
was over, and a good friend of
ours was the head of Electra.

And in one of those times
that we saw each other
he said to Sérgio,

"When are you coming
out with another album?"

Sérgio said, "I don’t have
plans, I don’t have a label."

He says, "Well, just go
and bring me the best Brazilian
album that was ever made."

Is, uh, probably top
three of Sérgio’s career

and it’s a very important album.

[Scott] The opening song
starts really soft.

And then when all the
percussionists come in, there’s
over a hundred of us total.

When they all come in,
it’s the most
incredible sound

in the world that you
could ever hear.

Like, oh, my God,
this is amazing. I felt
like I was at Carnival.

So two o’clock in the morning
I’m in bed, phone rings.

I usually take my phone off
the hook, usually at night.

Phone rings, this guy
on the other side,
"Hello, this is Carlinhos."

I said, "Oh," I said,
"I’m asleep, man."

He said, "No, no, no, you got to
hear this song." I said, "What,
2:30 in the morning?"

And he starts singing...

[imitates bass sounds]

I look at Gracinha,
I said, "I love this guy."
He’s crazy, I wanna meet him.

So that’s... It happened
exactly like that.
Serendipity, there we go.

He put his whole
band on the street,
I don’t know, 30 guys,

playing percussion, and I said,
"Oh, my God, this is like,

I never heard anything
like that."

And him, you know
the great personality.

So we again, we like this.

The art of the encounter.

The timing was good, because
that was when world music

was kind of becoming a buzzword,
and so he comes with a very
Brazilian album,

which is a return to his roots.

I think it was a risky move,

but I think he takes risks,

and sometimes they work
and sometimes they don’t,

but it’s part of the reason
why he’s still relevant.

Brasileiro because another
landmark in my career,
because we won a Grammy.

[clapping]

[Gracinha] After Brasileiro,
a couple of years later,

he did another Brazilian
record. But after that he didn’t
record for quite a long time.

[Sérgio]
So after doing so many albums,

’cause in the early days,

we used to do almost
like two albums a year.

So the ’60s, the ’70s, the ’80s,

now 1996,

I thought it was time to stop.

We kept traveling
all over the world,

concerts everywhere
and going here, going there,

and I had no desire
to make a record.

So the years went by,
’97, ’98, 2000, millennium,
da, ta, da, ta, da, ta.

And then one day,
somebody called him

and said, "There’s this kid
that wants you to play
in his record...

but he’s shy to come to you."

He’s not shy, but he doesn’t
know how, just send him over
whenever he wants.

His music, like I said,
it took me to another world.

And I felt like this
connection with Sérgio Mendes
and bossa nova.

This was 1992, and I went
out to thrift stores
and bought his vinyl

and started collecting
Sérgio Mendes work.

I came to his house
with all of his records,

and all the things that
I went hunting for when
I was 17 years old,

looking and trying
to find all the Sérgio
Mendes albums,

I wanted to show him
that like look bro, like I,
I studied this stuff.

I think I can figure
out a trans... I can translate
this sensibility to today.

That was another
serendipity moment,
you know, he...

I’m repeating too much this
word, but I love the sound.
Serendipity is gorgeous.

You know, man, your music
is... It’s been incredible,
my life and this.

And starts telling all these
beautiful stories about how he
heard him the first time.

This older guy that showed
it to him when he was 16,

and then he would show to
the girls and say to the girls,

"You don’t know Sérgio Mendes,
you don’t anything about music."

He was very charming and very
intelligent and very funny.

You know, that kind
of connecting,
when you meet people,

then knowing that you’re going
to be friends for a long time,

and you’re gonna have
a lot of artistic time
to spend with them

and that happened
with Will, which was like,
uh... it changed my life.

♪ Mas que nada ♪

♪ Black Eyed Peas came to
Make it hotter ♪

♪ We be the party starters ♪

♪ Bubblin’ up just like lava ♪

♪ Like lava heated
Like a sauna ♪

♪ Penetrating through
Your body armor ♪

♪ Rhythmically we massage you ♪

♪ With hip-hop mixed up
With samba with samba ♪

[Sérgio]
Of course Will.i.am, like my
other brother, you know.

And Will, like me, is very
curious, very open-minded.

I mean it’s like...
He will try, he’s always

looking for something fresh,
innovative, different.

The idea was to do the great
Brazilian songs, but in the
different beat,

different than the original,
and then he put a little
rap and, you know...

That encounter,
just meeting him, going
to the studio with him,

that for me was, uh,
an incredible experience,

kind of an experience
when I had, when I did my
record with Cannonball in ’61.

Now the difference, now I’m
the old man. You know, he’s
the young kid, I’m the old guy.

[Leila] I remember when
I got Timeless in the mail,

and I thought Sérgio Mendes,
wow, what has Sérgio Mendes
been up to?

And then I put the album in
and I though, "Oh, wow,
this is so clever."

And I thought it was visionary
and very well-executed,
and it sounded great.

And it didn’t sound like
it was contrived at all.

It’s not like he collaborated
with classic pop acts.

No, he collaborated with people
that were in the hip-hop world,
like all through the spectrum.

It’s easy for that to
sound like a cliché or
to not really mesh well.

He did it extremely well,

but he can do it well, because
that’s what he’s always done.

I would say that Sérgio was
one of the original fusion
artists in the commercial space,

and he’s still able to do it.
So that’s part of his talent,

that he’s able to adapt and
incorporate new sounds without
compromising his own integrity.

It was an amazing project.
I really, really loved Timeless.

It taught me a lot about
patience in the studio,

how to work with different
musician disciplines.

I learned a lot about
that style of producing
from working with Sérgio.

The album came out, it was a big
success all over the world.

And I’m so happy, because
that was like for me was
like something fresh.

Here, I have a new start right
now, I’m excited again,
after 10 years, you know?

This is Sérgio Mendes.
Timeless, bro. No more years.
This is forever now.

[Sérgio] I’ve always loved
to try new things in music,

working with somebody else
that will bring a new angle,
a new idea.

I’m always attracted to that.

One day, I’m trying
to write a song.

I’m at the piano,
trying to come up with
a melody and some changes.

We just started playing
together, both of us playing
our keyboards into the computer.

No lyrics at all.
I don’t write lyrics.

And then we’re like, "Well, who
can we get to write the lyric?"

And he said, "What about
John Legend?" I was like, "Oh."

It was a really lovely groove,
and it felt really good.

And it already had, uh,
a melody, uh, a vocal
melody laid out.

Said, "Can you play a little bit
of the song again?"

I never seen that in my life.

So he opens his computer,

and for an hour and a half he...

Nobody says a thing.

And then he look at me,
and then said, "I’m ready."

So he goes to the booth
and starts singing.

I mean, really singing with
his heart and, like, John
Legend, you know, that voice.

And, uh, and I go like, "What?"

♪ I see the wonder
In your eyes ♪

♪ Let the rhythm hypnotize
Let it take your mind away ♪

♪ Ooh, let’s get
Closer than before ♪

♪ Let’s arrive at
Something more ♪

♪ Then we’ll make
It real today ♪

Was such a beautiful words
and everything was like,

so the lyric and the melody
were like that.

That’s John singing,
and I say, "Yay."

We called it "Don’t Say
Goodbye," and it really
came out beautifully.

Uh, he did a great solo
on it, as he does. And it
was a really lovely record.

♪ Let me spend it All with you ♪

Sérgio is a real passionate guy.

He’s passionate about food,
he’s passionate about wine.

[Sérgio] My mom was a great
cook, and I have the memories,

the perfume of her food
and the taste of her food.

So the interesting food,
I think, had a lot to do with
her,

and I think that later
on in life provoked me to try
different foods, you know?

Again, it has to do with
curiosity of the palate,
of the hearing, you know?

I wanna hear new sounds.

That’s the whole thing
about the palate,

and the nose and the hearing.

I think they all related,
and wine comes right into that.

It’s... Well, it’s a mixture
of hedonism and curiosity, no.

[Will.i.am] Sérgio is like
very emotional. Say, for
example, we finished recording.

If it’s late, he’ll have
a glass of wine,

and then we’ll get to
talking and he’ll get to
shedding a tear or two,

’cause that’s just how much
he loves music and how open
he is with his emotions.

And, by the way, the, the chefs,
they call the stove,

they call le piano, the piano,
which I love. That is, oh,
yeah, really?

I said, "Yeah, we call
le piano."

Oh, le piano, it’s me.
I like that.

So all of those things,
when you add them together,
it’s great.

The piano, the music,
the wine, the food,
a grand celebration of life.

When I had the opportunity
to create Rio,

the first thing I thought
about like, okay, this
movie gotta have music.

And I want it to be authentic,
but I want it to be something
also accessible

to the world audience,
and who could do that.

And then Sérgio Mendes’s name
came, like, right off the bat.

I met him, I mean again, you
know, immediately, you know?

So he told me the story about
the idea of the birds in Brazil

and I said, "Oh, man, this
is amazing." I said, "I’m in."

It was something
totally new for me,
because making a record,

I know I’ve been doing that,

but working for a movie’s
a different thing,
totally different.

Sérgio really came up with
these like very simple notes

that really became the,
the spine of Rio, like in Rio,
which was like that,

kinda like little melody that
was really simple but really
potent, you know.

And that’s when John embraced
it, and then off they went into
creating this amazing song.

That’s ultimately what
Carlos was trying to tell
a story of his own home.

And so by bringing in Sérgio,
you know, the two of them,

they stretched that
understanding of what home
is if you come from Rio.

Let’s have a song
that establishes the,
the joy of your childhood.

♪ All the birds of a feather ♪

♪ Do what they love
Most of all ♪

♪ We are the best at rhythm
And laughter ♪

♪ That’s why we love carnival ♪

♪ Possibly we can sing too ♪

♪ Sun and beaches, they coo ♪

♪ Dance to the music
Passion and love ♪

♪ Show us the best You can do ♪

[Sérgio] The song we wrote
was nominated for an Oscar,

which was another great
experience to be in
the Oscars, you know?

We’re all kind of
like... We’re jumping up
and down with joy,

like that he got that
nomination. It was so, oh,
oh, you know, so right.

♪ ...in Rio know
Something else ♪

♪ All by itself, itself ♪

♪ You can’t see it coming ♪

♪ You can’t find it anywhere
Else anywhere else ♪

It’s interesting,
you know, I usually
don’t hear my old records

for whatever reason,
’cause I’m always thinking
about the next.

I think it’s amazing that
he’s had such a successful
career for this long,

that he’s been relevant
for this long, and, uh,

I think a lot of musicians
would envy that and it’s
not easy to duplicate.

[Leila]
So Sérgio has 19 entries
on the Billboard 200.

The Billboard 200
are the 200 albums

that at any given time
are the top-selling albums
in the United States, 200.

To be able to get into that
chart, you have to sell.

I mean, there’s like no
way around it. You can’t make
that up. It’s like tangible.

[Common] First of all, to be
able to work 60 years and have
a career in the arts is amazing.

That’s like a gift from
the creator, for sure.

That’s a gift from the creator
that you are taking and you are,

like, nurturing it and you are,
like, developing it and you are
using it in the right way.

People sometimes ask me
the question, well,
you keep reinventing yourself.

I never think about
that word first of all.
I don’t use that word.

Why would you wanna reinvent
him? He’s perfect the way he is.

I will never retire,
because I love what I do.

I love traveling,
I love playing concerts
and working with my band.

It gives me tremendous pleasure.
So in my mind the idea
of retiring, no way.

I think his music transcends
like age and all those barriers
that we think,

we keep thinking, oh, he’s
an old-timer. He hasn’t, like,
since Brasil ’66, you know,

but actually, he never stops,
you know, like...

And I think it makes his
work always contemporary.

It’s impossible for an artist
to have a career that long.

This Sérgio Mendes
dude seen a whole bunch
of presidents through, bro.

A president only has
four to eight years, that’s it.

Sérgio Mendes seen Nixon,
Ford, freaking, think about
all the presidents he’s seen.

Come on.

Sérgio’s a visionary.
When he sees an opportunity,

he’ll go for it.
He doesn’t go backwards,
he goes forward all the time.

I think he does it out
of the right reasons.

He’s passionate
about making music.

He loves to do it,
he loves to record and,

uh, he’s really good
at it, and I think
that keeps him alive.

For me, this whole journey,
the word is joy, alegria.

Uh, the next party, I’m ready.

♪ Yeah, how y’all
Feeling out there? ♪

♪ Sabor do Rio, let’s go ♪

♪ Yeah, come on ♪

♪ Feel the sunshine
Yeah, it’s summertime ♪

♪ Little brew, a little
Bit of little wine ♪

♪ We feeling good now
In the ’hood now ♪

♪ Rio de Janeiro
Understood now? ♪

♪ Coming from Chicago
This is Common ♪

♪ I’m in the place
With my man, Sérgio ♪

♪ This is how the words’ll go ♪

♪ This is how we rockin’ in
The circle, universal though ♪

♪ La music, we in sync ♪

♪ A lot of people doing
What we can, no think ♪

♪ Don’t think too long
Don’t think too wrong ♪

♪ When it come to this
Yo, you lovin’ that song ♪

♪ Now, we can go strong
Look at the palm ♪

♪ Trees and feel breeze, MC’s ♪

♪ This is how we be
When the style’ll be free ♪

♪ I love it when the
Ladies just smile at me ♪

♪ Let’s go this discussion
Over Rio percussion ♪

♪ It’s like this, y’all
Everything is gushing ♪

♪ A little bit of water ♪

♪ It’s what the sons
And daughters ♪

♪ When they come to Brazil
It’s all in order ♪

♪ Gotta go down
Gotta hold down ♪

♪ Shout out to my man
Green from Motown ♪

♪ But we comin’ back
To Brazil to feel ♪

♪ The type of things
That’s real, yo ♪

♪ Everybody chill and just ♪

♪ Sabor do Rio ♪