Before Brasil '66, there was Brasil '65 - a much less well-known incarnation of Sérgio Mendes' group who recorded for Capitol and Atlantic, without too much success.
Mendes, a Brazilian latin and jazz pianist who was born in 1941, had formed a partnership with Richard Adler, a New York lawyer, and it was Adler's idea to find a couple of singers who could sing in both English and Portuguese. It was Adler, too, who arranged for the new group to audition for Herb Alpert's youthful A&M label. Atlantic were persuaded to release Mendes and the '65 group from their contract, and the rest - as they say - is history. This first album (
Herb Alpert Presents... (1966)), and the single
Mas Que Nada were great successes, helped by Mendes and '66 touring with Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass.
The album notes have a personal introduction from Alpert, noting that he and Mendes were now good friends. Alpert became even more friendly with Brasil '66's lead singer Lani Hall, and they married in 1973.
Mendes was interviewed for NPR as part of a series called
My Big Break - and you can
listen to this here.
This 45rpm copy of the album comes from the Russian re-issue label Audio Clarity (and is probably pressed by GZ Media in the Czech Republic). Here is side 2 (track listing below) - opening with a latinised Lennon-McCartney
Day Tripper, and containing a sultry version of
Slow Hot Wind (sometimes known as
Lujon) from
Henry Mancini's 1961 album
Mr Lucky Goes Latin.
Cartridge: SAE 1000LT
Phono amp: Graham Slee Reflex M
Turntable: Kenwood KD7010
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