There are few songs that have had as much impact on musicians as those of The Beatles. Orlando Haddad (vocals, guitar, berimbau) and Patricia King Haddad (vocals, piano, keyboards) are certainly no exception. In 1978, they formed Minas at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, performed all over the eastern seaboard, moved to Brazil, then returned to the U.S. in 1984 where they perform and record extensively in the Brazilian jazz, folk and classical genres.

Their eighth album, Beatles in Bossa, provides lovely Latinesque arrangements of 14 classic favorites from the Fab Four. They have clearly put a lot of creative time, effort and thoughtful planning into this project that covers many of my personal jazzy favorites from “Blackbird” to “Day Tripper,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” to “Norwegian Wood,” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” to “In My Life.” While nearly all were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, they don’t overlook a couple of positive contributions from George Harrison, “Within You Without You” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Sorry Ringo, they didn’t Latinize any of your songs.   

Besides Orlando and Patricia, the rest of the musicians include Jim Stager (bass), Tom Cohen (drums), John Swana | (EVI, flugelhorn, trumpet), Andrew Neu (saxes, flute), Cyro Baptista (percussion, berimbau), Jordan Haddad (vocals) and Rob Hyman (accordion). Together, they’ve given these Beatles songs some enchanting interpretive twists in cohesive jazzy arrangements, incorporating Brazilian styles of bossa nova, samba, choro, partido alto, afoxé, marcha rancho and frevo.                                       

The resulting artistry is full of warmth and charisma, and you’ll be singing and dancing right along with them before you know it -- “When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find, Peace of mind is waiting there. And the time will come when you see we're all one, And life flows on within you and without you.” On Minas’ Beatles in Bossa, there’s clearly a sense that life has returned and that there are sunny, optimistic, hopeful times ahead. “Here comes the sun, and I say ‘it’s alright!’”(Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)