Sergio Mendes

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.