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MARIA MENDES

SAUDADE, COLOUR OF LOVE, Maria Mendes’s 4th album awarded with GRAMMY 2024 and Latin GRAMMY 2023 nominations

From her native Portugal to her adopted home in the Netherlands, the 4 x Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated vocalist and composer Maria Mendes has been traveling a world of musical expression.

With Wayne Shorter’s blessings, Mendes premiered his contemporary jazz piece “Gaia” in Germany in 2022. Her song “Inverso,” featuring Anat Cohen, was part of the soundtrack of the Emmy-winning soap opera “Ouro Verde”.

Hailed by DownBeat magazine as “a jazz singer of the highest order,” Mendes’ praises have been sung by such legends as Quincy Jones and Hermeto Pascoal.

The vocalist has performed at the Blue Note Jazz Club NYC; Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals and released four striking solo albums, most recently blending Jazz and Fado on the acclaimed live album “Saudade, Colour of Love” featuring the Metropole Orkest and John Beasley.

Her 4th album, “Saudade, Colour of Love”, featuring the Metropole Orkest, was listed Best Jazz Album 2022 on the 5 top international jazz magazines – Downbeat, Jazziz, Jazzwise, Jazzthing, Jazzism. Rage reviews point out the style-type Sinatra “orchestral” introductions, the rippling jazz piano and adventurous free improvisational interludes, the melancholy passionate fado felt on Mendes’s fervent vocals’s forays into scat on luminous vibrant songs.

“A melange that is fascinating and unusual” (Stereo Magazine, Germany) and “that alone, makes this project an all-round success, infused with Jazz, rich with classical overtones and culturally prominent” (Musical Memoires, USA) “Pulling on two different traditions, this genre-disruptive fusion project manages to make a new genre of its own” (The Big Take Over, USA).

 

For the tour season of 2024, Maria brings her singular vision of her new album “Saudade, Colour of Love” to the concert stage with her band, playing her spirited blend of Jazz and Fado through synths and acoustic instruments, in 4Tet line up.

Also for 2024-2025, Mendes and her band are expanding collaborations with Chamber Classic Orchestras and Big Bands worldwide touring this Fado Jazz repertoire, a 4x GRAMMY nominated project of 12 orchestrated songs recorded with the Metropole Orkest.

BOOKING

LINE UP
MM 4TET

*optional to collaborate w/ local Big Bands & Chamber Orchestras*

MARIA MENDES  (vocals, compositions, arrangements, percussions)

CÉDRIC HANRIOT  (piano and synths)

JASPER SOMSEN  (acoustic bass)

MÁRIO COSTA  (drums, percussion)

VIDEOS Maria Mendes 4TET

VIDEOS ft. Metropole Orkest

Photo credits: Nathalie Hennis

Links

Downbeat USA
All About Jazz USA
Jazztimes USA
The Big Take Over USA
Making a Scene USA
Jazzwise UK
Jazzthing DE
Stereo Mag DE
NRWJazz.net DE
Muziek en Sich DE
JN PT
Jazzhalo BE
Roots Time BE

Maria Mendes on CNN

Press Quotes

“A jazz singer of the highest order. The lush symphonic sound sparks when it meets the interplay of Mendes’s brilliant quartet and the singer’s fervent vocals DOWNBEAT (USA)

4 1/2 **** ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)

“An adventuresome and extremely innovative recording that never ceases to be beautiful, even as it is daring. Mendes is a superb jazz singer


Mendes takes another step into a largely uncharted realm where Jazz inflicts the ritualistic laments of Fado. (…) a real authority in the jazz tradition. Captivating! JAZZTIMES (USA)

4 **** JAZZWISE (UK)

A remarkable live recording with extraordinarily committed and impassioned performance from both vocalist and orchestra. A love letter both to fado and to jazz, and the boundless possibilities that come from marrying the two, Saudade, Colour of Love represents a stunning achievement


“Crystal clear voice, strong and confident (…) has the courage to make the classic Fado sound absolutely contemporary and of the moment”

JAZZVIEWS (UK)

5 ***** CONCERTO (Austria)

“Impressively atmospheric with excellent soloists among them Maria Mendes. More than what Mendes delivers on her new live album is almost impossible”

“A mixture of fado and symphonic jazz that sounds big, opulent and yarning. (…) there is no trace of grey in the glowing and vibrant songs (…) as Maria can draw on a wide palette of colours”
JAZZTHING (Germany)

4 **** STEREO MAGAZINE (Germany)

“Mendes’ voice and improvisation are paramount artNRC (Netherlands)

Mendes immediately profiles herself as a strong jazz singer. Intimacy and beauty from the first track” JAZZISM (Netherlands)

Longing, love, nostalgia are the themes, performed with a voice that is unsurpassed in purity and variability” JAZZ ’N’ MORE (Switzerland)

Breathtaking. A dazzling version of a versatile ode to Fado” JAZZHALO (Belgium)

Maria’s extraordinary vocals and the virtuosity of all the musicians are the highlight on this album. Mendes singing is anchored on the jazz language but is in her creative incursions that she shows all her artistic freedom” REVISTA VISÃO (Portugal)

5***** O GLOBO (Brazil)

Legends Quotes

“I see a promising shining future for this young talented singer”
QUINCY JONES (USA)

“As Metropole Orkest we are always looking to combine music styles. This project intelligently combines Fado and Jazz in a well-balanced and vibrant manner. John Beasley’s charts are rich and his work on this recording can be compared to that of a great fashion designer. Maria, her incredible voice and her songs are his muse in creating a garment that fits perfectly and makes the Metropole Orkest shine” METROPOLE ORKEST (Netherlands)

“Fado music needs an impressionistic voice that can express the longing and loss in these stories of melancholy. Maria Mendes surprised me with her stunning timbre of voice. She also has the charisma and  personality that is needed to connect the music to the words and  context of the songs. And, with Maria’s soul-reaching voice, which is clear as a bell and can trigger a wide range of feelings, when you listen, you are left with how to handle the beauty and artistry of what you just experienced. With “Close to Me”, you hear two genres –fado and jazz– infusing each other creating a new blend –a new musical appetite that stirs your soul” JOHN BEASLEY (USA)

“Beautiful singing and great scat”
HERMETO PASCOAL (Brazil)

“An album sung from the heart”
SHEILA JORDAN (USA)

“Maria Mendes singing is wonderful”
DORI CAYMMI (Brazil)

“I hope her crystal-clear voice and her precise diction will conquer your hearts like it did mine”
DAVID LINX (Belgium)

“Her crystal-clear voice, perfect tuning and smoothness are unique”
ROSA PASSOS (Brazil)

Significant
awards

GRAMMY Award 2024 *nomination*
BEST ARRANGEMENT  | Saudade, Colour of Love

LATIN GRAMMY Award 2023 *nomination*
BEST ARRANGEMENT  | Saudade, Colour of Love

GRAMMY Award 2020 *nomination*
BEST ARRANGEMENT INSTRUMENTS & VOCALS  | Close To Me

LATIN GRAMMY Award 2020 *nomination*
BEST ARRANGEMENT  | Close To Me

*winner* EDISON JAZZ Award 2020
BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM | Close To Me

Montreux Jazz Voice Competition Award
SWITZERLAND | 2010
(president of the jury was jazz legend Quincy Jones)

*winner* Best Jazz Vocalist Award at the Nederlands Jazz Vocalisten Concours
NETHERLANDS | 2009

Relevant
shows

2024-2012 NETHERLANDS: North Sea Jazz Festival, Het Concertgebouw, Bimhuis, Lantaren Venster, Tivoli Vredenburg, Paradox, Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ

2024-2022 GERMANY: Rudolf Oetker Hall Bielefeld, JazzNacht Zollverein

2022-2015 PORTUGAL: CCB, Casa da Música, Teatro São Luiz, Teatro Rivoli, Festival de Jazz de Tavira

2018-2017 BELGIUM: Handelsbeurs, De Bijloke

2018-2010 SWITZERLAND: Montreux Jazz Festival, Off Beat Jazz Festival, Bird’s Eye Jazz Club

2016 FRANCE: Sunside Paris

2014 USA: Blue Note Jazz Club New York

2013 BRASIL: SESC Pompéia São Paulo

Relevant
collaborations

Bielefelder Philharmoniker | Chamber line up on German tour 2024

Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras | Chamber line up on Portuguese tour 2023-2024

LoveMetropole Orkest | Chamber line up on Saudade, Colour of Love (2022) and Close to Me (2019) projects & tours 2019-2022

John Beasley | Arranger, producer, pianist and Metropole Orkest’s conductor for Saudade, Colour of Love and Close to Me projects & tours 2019-2022

Brussels Jazz Orchestra | Big Band on De Bijloke project 2017

Andre Ceccareli | Drummer on Innocentia tour 2017

Anat Cohen | Clarinetist on Innocentia project 2015

Steven Kamperman, Alex Simu & Ricardo Toscano | Clarinetists on Innocentia tour 2015-2018

We welcome you to contact Maria Mendes for more information.