Sergio Mendes – HuffPost 9.9.14

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Sergio Mendes: I take one thing at a time. I don’t make any future plans. I’ve been very blessed and lucky to have a long career and to be still playing music that I love. That’s what I love to do, performing and travelling and to make an album like this is wonderful for me. I’m lucky and blessed.

MR: Is that something you wish for new artists?

SM: Yes. I think those two components are very important. I think I always was very curious from a very young age. I think the curiosity will bring you through the learning process. I love to learn new things. I didn’t speak English before I left Brazil. Now I speak English, I speak a little French, a little Italian, and Spanish. I think the curiosity took me places that I think I wouldn’t have been if I wasn’t that curious. I would say to a young musician, “Be curious, learn, practice, try different things and enjoy life,” which I do.

MR: Beautiful. When you look at music right now, what are your thoughts?

SM: I think when you look at the internet today, you can hear music from all over the world, especially if you turn to YouTube or something like that. You can connect with people in India, Africa, Brazil… That kind of information, we didn’t have it before. I remember when I heard my first jazz records in Brazil, it was very hard to get them down there. An American jazz record was a precious thing to have. Now you turn on your computer and you know what’s happening in Tokyo and Rio. I think that’s an amazing thing and I think that’s why people are much more tuned in to what’s happening in the world today. Not only music, but literature, art, cinema and everything else. I think it’s wonderful. It’s no longer something too precious that you can’t have. Right now, the information is there and it’s up to you and your curiosity and your courage to go ahead and do your thing.