Don t buy if you are expecting Brasil 65/66, buy it for the Jazz - This is Sergio before Brasil 65/66 and I would consider them two different sounds. I would describe it simply as Latin Jazz, very good Latin Jazz. Lots of recognizable tunes here. Segio is an icon and should be in everybody s collection. Recommended if you are buying it for the Jazz and not recommended if you think you are getting more Brasil 65/66.
A Nice Pair - Based on the musical quality and added value of receiving two albums on one cd I would give this a 5 star rating. Where the quality is lacking is in the poor cd re-mastering which is prevalent on most of the re-issues released by this record label. They have a dry, brittle character which sounds artificial. Although The Swinger... boasts jazz heavyweights Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Hubert Laws, and Brazilian master A.C. Jobim himself on guitar, I prefer The Beat Of Brazil. The warm soulful sound of trombones and tenor sax combined with the upbeat arrangements is hard to beat.
Jazz Bossa Nova x Non-Jazz Bossa Nova - Sergio Mendes is one of those rare Brazilian artists who plays very well on both shores. This CD contains 2 albums from his Brazilian output. You should know that the album here contained The Beat of Brazil was originally entiled Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada. Furthermore, you should know this is considered the best of all Mendes output by Brazilian serious reviewers and musicians. Here @ Amazon, you ll also find Sergio Mendes samba (not jazzy) from his Brazil 66 efforts and I would not keep myself on a radical point-of-view of discarding them: it is very good samba too, though not jazzy. If I had to choose, I d pick em all. This CD is essential to serious Bossa Nova collectors. All stars.
Some of Sergio s best jazz efforts - This compilation set features the talents of Sergio s Bossa Rio Sextet recorded in Brazil. To borrow a phrase from a Brazilian journalist I highly respect, this group is tight and swinging from the first opening bars to the last. Unfortunately, this group only recorded a few albums in Brazil (The Beat of Brazil LP actually is a U.S. reissue of the Philips Brasil Sergio Mendes and Bossa Rio LP). We deserved to hear more from these great jazzmen, all of them. Antonio Carlos Jobim himself did the arrangement for Ele e Carioca on the Beat of Brazil LP!If you are a jazz fan and want to hear good solid arrangements and first class jazz piano playing by Sergio, be sure to pick up this compilation, it will not disappoint.
Bossa meets bop with great results. - Forget Brasil 66 and all those awful Beatles covers. This disk holds Sergio s two best albums with instrumental cuts melding bossa nova with straight ahead bop. Swinger is a mostly pensive set with great sidemen such as Art Farmer, Hubert Laws, and Phil Woods. For Beat Sergio assembles a powerful sextet and lets things rip. Ela e Carioca is like nothing you ve heard, and here s the all-time best arrangement of Desafinado (except possibly for Herbie Mann at Newport 65). Only downside is the pathetic edit of Corcovado, but you ll be bothered only if you ve heard the orignal vinyl cut.