With A Little Help From My Friends / Look Around – Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66, 1968

🇧🇷 🎹 🎶 🌍 🔄 Pianist, singer, composer, and arranger, Sérgio Mendes achieved success in 1966 with his rendition of Mas que nada. Before that, he had already collaborated for over a decade with artists like Carlos Jobim, Cannonball Adderley, and Herbie Mann. The Brazilian musician played a key role in popularising bossa nova, using a foolproof approach: including pop or soul hits of the moment in his albums. With his group Brasil ’66, he released an extensive discography, supported by arrangements from the likes of Herb Alpert and Dave Grusin. In 1968, for example, he reimagined With A Little Help From My Friends from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in a MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) style. On the B-side, his original composition Look Around returned to bossa nova, featuring a catchy chorus that captured the spirit of the times. Within Brasil ’66, drummer Dom Um Romao would soon join Weather Report for albums like I Sing The Body Electric and Mysterious Traveller.