Sergio Mendes spreads Brazilian roots through contemporary music

Sergio Mendes has collaborated with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Lani Hall Alpert to Justin Timberlake to the Black Eyed Peas.

But there remains an elusive artist on Mendes’ wish list.

“I would love to do something with Prince. You’d be surprised how a lot of young people all over the world love Brazilian music, so I’m sure Prince loves Brazilian music, too,” Mendes said recently from his Los Angeles home.

The genial, humble pianist-arranger-songwriter, 72, is firmly established as the kingpin of Brazilian jazz thanks to “Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66,” a landmark 1966 album that introduced bossa nova to the mainstream. It became so influential that it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

Asked whether being regarded as the master of jazz-pop Brazilian music is a heavy load to carry, Mendes chuckled softly.

“I don’t even think about it,” he said.

The same year “Brasil ’66” received its Hall of Fame accolade, Mendes earned an Academy Award nomination for best original song for co-writing “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio.”

OK, so he lost to a song from “The Muppets” movie. Mendes doesn’t mind.

“That was a big emotion,” he said. “To be at that ceremony and meet people like (Steven) Spielberg. Just a wonderful experience.”

These days, Mendes is working on the soundtrack to “Rio 2” with Carlinhos Brown, who, along with Siedah Garrett, wrote the Oscar-nominated tune from the first installment.

“It’s going to be unique,” Mendes said of the sequel. “It’s a new story, and in some songs, my band is part of it.”

Mendes and his 10-piece band don’t tour extensively unless he’s performing overseas — summer jazz festivals in Europe, multiple shows in Asia — but he will visit Atlanta Oct. 26 to participate in the Jazz Roots series at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

“I call it a musical journey. We’re going to play bossa nova, music from ‘Brasil ’66’… we have to do some of the songs from ‘Timeless,’” Mendes said of his 2006 album featuring a contemporary cast of musical stars.

While he describes the format of his show as “simple. It’s a concert, mostly unplugged,” he’s also jazzed, so to speak, about the inclusion of Oakland, Calif., rapper H2O, who has been performing the “Brasil ’66” track “Agua de Beber” onstage with Mendes.

The making of “Timeless” was so invigorating for Mendes that he tries as much as possible to work with artists who are musically and demographically different.

“It’s a lot of fresh energy,” he said. “I’ve worked with great jazz musicians in the past, like Herbie Mann, but working with someone much younger than me, like will.i.am, that has great musical instincts, it’s a mutual admiration.”

He said will.i.am showed up at his house toting some of Mendes’ old records.

“I liked him immediately. He said he grew up listening to my music and asked if I would play piano on ‘Elephunk’ (the Black Eyes Peas’ 2003 album). It was something different that I’ve never done before,” Mendes said. “After that, I called him and asked if he would like to produce an album for me (‘Timeless’) and he said, ‘It would be the dream of my life.’ He brought his friends Justin Timberlake and John Legend. It was beautiful for me to know that they knew my work, that they were all fans.”

Mendes’ last studio album, “Bom Tempo,” came out three years ago and a two-disc career retrospective, “Celebration: A Musical Journey,” featuring favorites such as “The Look of Love,” “Masquerade” and “Never Gonna Let You Go,” arrived in 2011.

He plans to release a new album next year, in tandem with the soundtrack to “Rio 2.”

“I wrote a couple of new songs with Carlinhos, so hopefully there will be a lot of originals of great Brazilian music. There will be some guests,” Mendes said, pausing to laugh. “Maybe Prince will show up!”