For those of you not in the know, as a teenager in the 1960s, native Brazilian Orlando Haddad fell in love with the Beatles and credits the Fab Four as the inspiration for becoming a musician and later immigrating to the United States.

During the same time period, American Patricia King had fallen in love with Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, while experiencing the Beatles by osmosis through her older siblings.

When they met in the 1970s the duo’s passions for the music of North and South merged into the MINAS sound, clearly evident in this re-imagination of The Beatles fused with American Jazz and Brazilian styles of Bossa Nova, Samba, Choro, Partido Alto, Afoxé, Marcha Rancho and Frevo.

Beatles in Bossa (Nova) first premiered as a live show at World Cafe Live in November of 2017 to a sold-out audience. The new arrangements were so well-received that fans have since been asking for a recording.

And so here it is, after 4 years, and a result of the pandemic! Available on CD and double vinyl, Beatles in Bossa is the 8th full-length recording produced, arranged, and performed by Orlando and Patricia Haddad, along with their band MINAS, featuring outstanding musicians who represent the MINAS sound cultivated by decades of playing together.

1. BLACKBIRD (Bossa)
2. COME TOGETHER (Partido Alto)
3. SHE LOVES YOU (Bossa/Ballad)
4. DAY TRIPPER (Samba)
5. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS (Samba in 3/Baião)
6. I WILL (Afoxé/Marcha Rancho)
7. CAN’T BUY ME LOVE (Samba)
8. ELEANOR RIGBY (Bossa)
9. WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU (Bahia vibe/Free Jazz)
10. HERE COMES THE SUN (Bossa)
11. NORWEGIAN WOOD (Bossa/Samba/Jazz)
12. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS (Choro/Bossa)
13. IN MY LIFE (Marcha Rancho)
14. GET BACK (Frevo)

This stunningly magnificent, wholly original and elegantly crafted new album opens on the beautiful hipsway of BLACKBIRD (Bossa) and the atmospherically-charged, sturdy reworking of COME TOGETHER (Partido Alto) and then confidently brings us the late night jazz club ambiance of SHE LOVES YOU (Bossa/Ballad), the uptempo swing of DAY TRIPPER (Samba), the fast-tempo, perhaps almost too fast at times percussion work found within LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS (Samba in 3/Baião) and then we are gifted the rhythmical I WILL (Afoxé/Marcha Rancho) and the lazy hazy, hot summer night appeal of CAN’T BUY ME LOVE (Samba).

Up next is the melodically pleasing ELEANOR RIGBY (Bossa) and then the Esatern-imbibed WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU (Bahia vibe/Free Jazz), those tracks then themselves backed by the quietly organic growth within HERE COMES THE SUN (Bossa), the dance floor swirling hipsway of NORWEGIAN WOOD (Bossa/Samba/Jazz), the upbeat and harmonious WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS (Choro/Bossa), the album rounding out on the Matt Bianco-esque of IN MY LIFE (Marcha Rancho), coming to an all too soon close on the furtively accordion-flourished of GET BACK (Frevo).

Musicians on the record: Orlando Haddad, Patricia K.Haddad, John Swana, Andrew Neu, Cyro Baptista, Tom Cohen, Jim Stager, Jordan Haddad, and Rob Hyman.

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