Hailing from Portugal and based for the last decade and a half in the Netherlands, Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-nominated vocalist and composer Maria Mendes is no stranger to living between two different worlds.

With her critically acclaimed 2019 album Close To Me, Mendes, whose praises have been sung by such legendary composers as Quincy Jones and Hermeto Pascoal, spotlighted her ability to bring disparate influences together in stunning fashion with her vibrant fusion of symphonic jazz and Portuguese Fado, the folk music of her homeland.

Far from having exhausted the possibilities of that project, Mendes brings her singular vision to the concert stage in collaboration with master keyboardist/arranger John Beasley and the revered Metropole Orkest on her breathtaking new live album, Saudade, Colour of Love.

Due out October 7th, 2022 via Challenge Records, the album further expands the emotional intensity of its predecessor’s thrilling hybrid sound with the backing of a full orchestra.

The lush, velvety symphonic sound creates sparks when it meets the exhilarating interplay of Mendes’ brilliant quartet and the singer’s fervent vocals, resulting in an unforgettable evening of music.

1. Com Que Voz
2. Tudo Isto É Fado
3. Verdes Anos
4. Foi Deus
5. Hermeto’s Fado for Maria
6. E Se Nâo for Fado
7. Dança Do Amor
8. Quando Eu Era Pequenina
9. Meu Pobre Capitão

This elegantly lush, veritably symphonic sound of a recording opens on the sweeping ornate gossamer of Com Que Voza and the delightfully free flowing Tudo Isto É Fado and they are followed by the furtively playful Verdes Anos, the dutifully harmonic Foi Deus and then comes the artfully sewn dips and swirls within the beautiful Hermeto’s Fado for Maria.

Up next is the delicate balladry found within E Se Nâo for Fado which is itself backed seamlessly by the, at first laid back, summer’s breeze entwined, but which soon bleeds into the aptly-named Dança Do Amor, the album rounding out on the drum-led Quando Eu Era Pequenina, closing on the audience-participated Meu Pobre Capitão.

In advance of Saudade, Colour of Love, Mendes released the single “Hermeto’s Fado for Maria,” a new piece written for Mendes by the iconic Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal.

The song was actually gifted to her in the form of a handwritten score on the back of a hotel room emergency exit instruction card. Pascoal gave Mendes free rein to do what she wished with the song, the only demand being, “Don’t you dare to not record it!”

The Dutch Metropole Orkest, the world’s leading pop and jazz orchestra, appeared on four tracks on Close To Me, but that was enough to convince Mendes that the collaboration could bear even greater fruit. “Working with the Metropole Orkest was so precious that it nurtured a seed in me that needed a lot more water,” Mendes says.

“Bringing together jazz and Fado has been the most important and artistically fulfilling work that I have done, really feeding my soul. It’s been a new awakening to connect with this beautiful legacy that came from my ancestors.”

While Mendes and Beasley’s arrangement of “Asas Fechadas” garnered nominations for both Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, the pandemic inevitably halted the album’s momentum. At the same time, it allowed the luxury of time to plan a truly spectacular showcase for expanded orchestral renditions of these songs to be premiered at two May 2022 concerts at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ and at Parkstad Limburg Theaters in Heerlen.

Mendes worked closely with John Beasley in arranging the music for the symphonic setting, while Beasley crafted majestic orchestrations for the Metropole Orkest.

Official Trailer of SAUDADE, COLOUR OF LOVE | New CD

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