Sergio Mendes
Encanto
EMI Virgin
[Three stars]
This is Sergio Mendes in his newest avatar and it seems like he has reinvented himself more times than Madonna. The album is not quite jazz, not quite hip-hop and not quite the bossa nova, yet it is a nice traipse through all these genres. The maestro has included five old chestnuts composed by the great Jobim including ”˜Dreamer’ and ”˜Somewhere in the Hills’ (a lovely vocal here by Natalie Cole), which hold the album together. The Burt Bacharach-Hal David classic ”˜The Look of Love’ has a frenetic tempo and rap lyrics by Fergie and Will.I.Am but it disappoints. The rest of the album is at a relaxed tempo with Mendes employing ingenious Brazilian percussions and vocals, nicely. Although he has succeeded in creating a contemporary sound, jazz lovers will argue that he falls a little short of the standards he has set in his jazz-samba albums with Cannonball Adderley or Herbie Mann.