Milton Nascimento, Esperanza Spalding – Milton + esperanza (2024) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]

Milton Nascimento, Esperanza Spalding – Milton + esperanza (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:58 minutes | 679 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

Legendary songwriter and musical visionary Milton Nascimento, frequently acclaimed as Brazil’s greatest musician, joins in a musical collaboration with esperanza spalding whom NPR calls the ’21st Century’s jazz genius’. A longtime inspiration to spalding, Nascimento and she conjure tracks that sound simultaneously urgent yet timeless. Together they release ‘Milton + esperanza’ on August 9, 2024. Produced by spalding, the LP features special guests that include Dianne Reeves, Paul Simon, Lianne La Havas and more.Imagine the spark of electricity Esperanza Spalding—the multi Grammy-winning jazz musician—felt when hearing Milton Nascimento the first time, by chance, at a dinner party. It was Native Dancer, the legendary Brazilian singer and composer’s 1975 collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. “I get chills even thinking about it,” she has said. “Ninety percent of things I write, I’m thinking of him. I’m thinking of his voice. I’m imagining singing it with him.” The two have collaborated before, starting with him guesting on her “Apple Blossom” in 2010, but Milton + esperanza is a different animal: an intimate look into their friendship, creative process and mutual fandom. The full songs are the thing here, but you’re also treated to atmospheric interstitials, like “outro planeta”—a dreamlike conversation between the two, backed by what sounds like a heavenly choir—and “Late September,” which feels like opening the door to a late-night jazz club, alive with rough and ready saxophone, and wandering back out. It’s easy to imagine the song and the scene continuing in an alternate universe, even as you move on to “Outubro,” a spritely revamp of a cinematic track from Nascimento’s 1967 album Travessia. The original’s more subdued flute is replaced with one that flits and flies like a hummingbird; you can practically hear the music, at first rainy-day moody, bloom and open like a flower. Spalding and Nascimento sound intertwined as they egg each other on. Their duet style is also natural on “Saci,” affectionately stumbling into each other as if tipsily walking home from a happy night out; Brazilian guitarist Guinga is the street light guiding them home. Paul Simon drops by for “Um Vento Passou,” singing in Portuguese. He and Nascimento have worked together before—on the latter’s 1987 track “Dream Merchant” as well as Simon’s The Rhythm of the Saints—but this is a new composition by the Brazilian artist, whose rich, smoked wood contours intrigue next to Simon’s soft, velveteen tone. Spalding wrote some of the songs here, too, including sassy, swinging “Get It By Now” and “Wings for the Thought Bird.” Evocative of tropical Brazil, the latter features Elena Pinderhughes on a nimble, athletic flute. Other guests include Lianne La Havas, Brazil’s Orquestra Ouro Preto and jazz powerhouse Dianne Reeves on “Earth Song,” a lesser covered Michael Jackson song from 1995 that feels awfully timely now (“What about the seas … What about the animals … What about the Holy Land?”). There’s also a cover of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” which finds a playful Spalding sailing on that line “I’d love to turn you on.” And jazz vocalist Carolina Shorter guests on “When You Dream,” a lovely composition from her late husband Wayne’s 1985 album Atlantis. Stretching to nearly twice the song’s previous length, this homage is dreamy and groovy—elegant, yet wild without being chaotic or aggressive. You can’t help but miss Shorter’s sax glory, but there is plenty of kinetic energy here. – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

1-1. Milton Nascimento – the music was there (00:57)
1-2. Milton Nascimento – Cais (03:41)
1-3. Milton Nascimento – Late September (01:26)
1-4. Milton Nascimento – Outubro (05:17)
1-5. Milton Nascimento – A Day in the Life (04:36)
1-6. Milton Nascimento – Interlude for Saci (01:41)
1-7. Milton Nascimento – Saci (03:29)
1-8. Milton Nascimento – Wings for the Thought Bird (03:06)
1-9. Milton Nascimento – The Way You Are (00:43)
1-10. Milton Nascimento – Earth Song (06:42)
1-11. Milton Nascimento – Morro Velho (05:15)
1-12. Milton Nascimento – Saudade Dos Aviões Da Panair (Conversando No Bar) (05:24)
1-13. Milton Nascimento – Um Vento Passou (para Paul Simon) (04:36)
1-14. Milton Nascimento – Get It By Now (02:24)
1-15. Milton Nascimento – outro planeta (02:06)
1-16. Milton Nascimento – When You Dream (09:26)

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