Is there a DEODATO/MENDES connection?

[Aqua do Brasil]

Dear forum members,

Sergio Mendes worked with Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Eumir Deodato worked with Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Sergio worked with Marcos Valle.
Deodato worked with Marcos Valle.
Sergio worked with Wanda de Sah (aka Wanda Sa).
Deodato worked with Wanda de Sah.
Rubens Bassini was a longtime sidemen of Sergio.
Rubens Bassini was a longtime sidemen of Deodato.
Carol Jeanne Rogers worked with Sergio.
Carol Jeanne Rogers Worked with Deodato.
Guitarist Durval Ferreira worked with Sergio.
Guitarist Durval Ferreira worked with Deodato.


BUT SERGIO MENDES and EUMIR DEODATO never worked together as far as I know. Correct me if I wrong!

It would have been a hell of a combination, those two Brazilian keyboard geniuses.

Lets hope in the future of a possible cooperation between the two men.

All the best,
Aqua do Brasil
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[seashorepiano]

Dear Aqua do Brasil,

It's really amazing how both men contributed to the works of others, the same people who were mutual friends of the two. In the United States, I think Deodato and Mendes came closest to the possibility of working together during their A&M years. In March 1969, Deodato wrote the charts and co-arranged the set list for Walter Wanderley's "Moondreams." This came months after Sergio came out with "Fool on the Hill" and about a year before Sergio produced Lobo's sole A&M album in (I believe) August 1970. Relatively a matter of months separated them but, unfortunately, Deodato did the CTI work in New Jersey, and Sergio was in Los Angeles. They were working under the same umbrella together for a long time, but on either coast.

I think there's some artistic and stylistic rivalry between the two, personally. Fans of Deodato particularly from the 1970s and '80s admire him as a champion of jazz/rock, whereas Mendes continued in the bossa-pop vein all along. Both are keyboard geniuses and I think have remained separate because one would basically be superfluous to the work of another. Unless there were a keyboard duo coming soon, I doubt they'd ever work together...

(This all may sound like a load of crap, but I think it's partially true... tell me if I'm wrong or sound like I'm full of it...)

 

[JMK]

I think you're absolutely correct, Seashore. I think Sergio has been "protective" (that's putting it the nice way ) of his status as the "big Kahuna" in imported Brasilian music from the very beginning. His feuds (including some lawsuits) with other Brasilians, and even his own band, are legendary (he once punched out Vinicius at a club after Vinicius told Mendes he had sold out).

 

[seashorepiano]

I think Sergio has been "protective" (that's putting it the nice way ) of his status as the "big Kahuna" in imported Brasilian music from the very beginning.

Agreed! He seems to be the more protective of the two... I doubt Deodato would even care enough to consider working with Mendes. Their styles are altogether different and probably wouldn't match up well on an album.



-Dave (envisioning a disastrous album Deodato/Mendes with 13 keyboards; track 1: the "Who's Best" samba)

 

[Cortnee]

WOW! I never knew Sergio was hottempered! What lawsuits? What feuds within his band? I think Sergio fueded with Dom Um Romao and Rubens Bassini because Sergio never worked with neither one of them ever again after they left Brasil 66.

 

[seashorepiano]

WOW! I never knew Sergio was hottempered! What lawsuits? What feuds within his band? I think Sergio fueded with Dom Um Romao and Rubens Bassini because Sergio never worked with neither one of them ever again after they left Brasil 66.

Sergio wasn't exactly always the chipper, smiling person he appeared to be on all his album covers...

 

[JMK]

I don't feel comfortable discussing someone's "warts" in detail. I will say you can find a clue to one of the juicier lawsuits in some of the supplementary material in Leslie Pfenninger's books.

 

[Cortnee]

Dom Um Romao and Airto Moriera also worked with Deodato and Sergio.Who is Leslie Pfenninger? Sergio was almost always smiling on all of his album covers. Except for a few, he lookes SO SERIOUS! Many of his collagues viewed Sergio as a perfectionist who was pretty tough to work for. The late Claudio Slon said that he never had any problems working for Sergio.Laudir was Sergio's friend. Tiao Neto was the most loyal collague of Sergio's. Airto Moriera did have some beef with Sergio. As a matter of fact, Airto badmouthed Sergio and his music in a 1989 magazine article. Rhythm Magazine it is. Airto called Sergio's musis bull$#!^.

 

[seashorepiano]

Pardon me for sounding rude, but just where are you trying to go with this post? Every musician has his own gripes... it isn't like Sergio's controversial relationships were the first firestorm to hit the music industry. Everyone has bad-mouthed everyone else at some time or another, or at least an associate/agent working for that person.

 

[Harry]

Who is Leslie Pfenninger?

[crickets chirping]

[BUZZ] - I'm sorry, times up. On to the next category...

Harry
...veering way off course, online...

 

[Dave]

...He (Sergio) seems to be the more protective of the two... ...I doubt Deodato would even care enough to consider working with Mendes... ...Their styles are altogether different and probably wouldn't match up well on an album... (Envisioning a disastrous album: Deodato/Mendes with 13 keyboards; track 1: "The 'Who's Best?' Samba")

--That's probably the ONLY track that there would be...!!!

Sergio Mendes / Eumir Deodato as "The Brasilian Keyboardsmen", in The Soul Brasilian Keyboards--playing "The 'Who's Best?' Samba" and maybe (Yeah, WHO'S BEST...!!!) songs by THE WHO...!!!



Dave

 

[RichardWarner]

My experience interviewing Sergio Mendes (over the phone) wasn't quite as bad as my all time worst guest (Gordon Lightfoot...whose entire repitoire of answers consisted of "yes" and "no). But Sergio wasn't outgoing at all. About two clicks shy of "curt".

And it was a shame because I was asking questions that clearly showed I was more than a generic radio interviewer.

Lawsuits and egos aside, the first person I ever met in the radio business who became something of a mentor once commented --- in response to my saying I'd heard another radio guy had quite an ego:

"It doesn't matter. What matters is his talent. There are lots of nice guys in the industry who aren't nearly as professional on the air."

The ideal is someone like Herb Alpert, who is a talented gentleman. But there are also egotistical artists who do very good work.

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

I know young and old people that have accomplished absolutely nothing, have monster egos and even a "Superiority Complex". So it wouldn’t surprise me if a famous actor, musician, or artist has a big head on them. What's interesting is that these people don't save lives like your local cop, fire fighter, or rescue worker. Wouldn't one have to say that "ego" as opposed to one being "self confident" can be a character flaw?

later.........JO

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Just because a person has a great performing talent doesn't mean that person is automatically comfortable in conversation, giving interviews, etc. A great example is Johnny Carson, who was wonderful on TV but known as "cool and aloof" in person.

We have a guy right here in town who is probably one of the best piano players I've ever heard, but is one of the most unpleasant people I've ever met in my life.

Maybe Richard's interview with Sergio was the 4th one he'd done that day, or maybe he just wasn't feeling well...who knows?

 

[seashorepiano]

Agreed with Mike B. on the off-stage demeanor vs. professional. I've met a number of musicians who have the personality of plywood. This is an interesting conversation, though; I still think Deodato and Mendes wouldn't record an album together. It would be redundant.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I was about to say that Mendes would be too "pop" to be compatible with Deodato, but then I remembered all those Kool and the Gang records that Deodato was involved with in the '70s....

 

[Rudy]

I was about to say that Mendes would be too "pop" to be compatible with Deodato, but then I remembered all those Kool and the Gang records that Deodato was involved with in the '70s....

That was probably in their jazzier phase: "Summer Madness", perhaps?

 

[seashorepiano]

"Ladies' Night."

 

[Dave]

At his best, Eumir Deodato has always been an avant gard Jazz improvasionalistic archetect, with a real bent for good ol' Rock 'N' Roll sounds in his accompanying guitar-work, and a warrioresque, renaissance-structural, commanding Neo-Classical wunderkind... :goofygrin:

At his worst, he can be a megalomanical cheesy elevator muzak-making, Disco/Orchestral-charged, chintzy TV soundtrack/movie score sonics fashion-plating, very flat baroque, EZ list'nin' territoy-trekking, synthesizer-obsessed emperorish, power-hungry, big, bad@$$ production mogul...

--Just my thoughts, having recently gotten back into Deodato's works and revisiting "the good and bad" in his career...

And, yes, Sergio has had his similar ups and downs, though on a much lighter scale as far as the eclectism of his musical elements and borrowing from different sources and genres goes... He paints a similar outreaching, introspective, brilliant and personal portrait in the form of "His Brasil"...

--Just my thoughts for being a still fairly active Sergio-phile...



Dave