Milton Naascimento

Milton + esperanza – a new album by Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento and decorated musician/composer esperanza spalding – will be released August 9 on Concord Records. Recorded in Brazil over the course of 2023, Milton + esperanza is a dream-come-true collaboration and musical representation of a friendship that was first kindled nearly 15 years ago. The album features 16 tracks that celebrate and reimagine five of Nascimento’s beloved classics, newly written originals by spalding, and fascinating interpretations of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” among other works that lovingly explore the music of Brazil and far beyond. Special guest appearances include Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes, Carolina Shorter, Shabaka Hutchings and more. Milton + esperanza sparkles with duets between these two iconic voices, exquisite musicianship and what spalding identifies as a central theme of the album: the importance of younger generations creating with, learning from, and building new worlds with elders.

Milton + esperanza – a new album by Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento and decorated musician/composer esperanza spalding – will be released August 9 on Concord Records. Recorded in Brazil over the course of 2023, Milton + esperanza is a dream-come-true collaboration and musical representation of a friendship that was first kindled nearly 15 years ago. The album features 16 tracks that celebrate and reimagine five of Nascimento’s beloved classics, newly written originals by spalding, and fascinating interpretations of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” among other works that lovingly explore the music of Brazil and far beyond. Special guest appearances include Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes, Carolina Shorter, Shabaka Hutchings and more. Milton + esperanza sparkles with duets between these two iconic voices, exquisite musicianship and what spalding identifies as a central theme of the album: the importance of younger generations creating with, learning from, and building new worlds with elders.

Friend Of Mine (1976). Recorded in the wake of the collapse of Stax Records in 1976, Friend of Mine brushed up against a long fallow period in Little Milton's recorded output, and was also unavailable for many years, thus making it one of his least-known albums. Produced by Milton for Henry Stone's TK Records and issued on the Glades Records imprint, this is a soulful blues workout drenched in sweaty vocals and long, sustained performances, of which perhaps the best is the five-and-a-half-minute "You're Gonna Make Me Cry," which also includes some impressive guitar. The record's strongest body of songs are the smooth soul ballads such as "Baby It Ain't No Way," the rousing "Don't Turn Away" (a song that one wishes Elvis Presley could have discovered and considered covering)…

The Bobbin Blues Masters Part 1 (1994). Reissuing the Bobbin recordings of Little Milton and Clayton Love on the same compilation makes sense, although the two men sounded enough alike during the 1950s that some might find it hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Both men were born in Mississippi; Milton Campbell was co-founder and A&R director of the Bobbin record label in East St. Louis, and Clayton Love rose to prominence as Ike Turner's pianist. Compiled and released by the budget Collectables label in 1994, this first volume of Bobbin Blues Masters consists of eight titles by Little Milton (including his first major hit "I'm a Lonely Man," 1958) and three by Clayton Love, whose "Limited Love" (also a hit single in 1958) had instrumental support from a group led by bassist Roosevelt Marks…

To lovers of Brazilian jazz, the pairing of these two legends of the genre amounts to something of a musical orgasm. The only serious misfire isn't really that bad, just a bit incongruous. Why would two consummate Brazilian ambassadors choose to do their one English lyric song – George Harrison's "Something" – as a reggae tune? The groove is silly, but actually some of the guitar work is fun. Just as when Ivan Lins sings in his native Portuguese rather than stilted English, this tandem is most at home conveying emotions that go beyond simple semantics, usually with Gil writing the music and Nascimento the lyrics. "Sebastian" is a moody bass-and-drum driven power ballad which functions as a showcase to their raspy vocals. The romantic, accordion-enhanced "Duas Sanfonas" would be more effective without the guest vocals by Sandy and Junior.

"Txai" is described as a term of respect for those who are allies of the forest – and such is the focus of this concept album, the end result of a fact-finding voyage through part of the northern Brazilian watershed. Utilizing forces ranging from a simple dialogue between Milton Nascimento's baritone and percussion to a large orchestra and chorus (often arranged by Wagner Tiso), Nascimento shares his thoughts about the rivers and nature, ultimately warning us not to let the forces of capitalism destroy the Amazon rain forest (reinforced by a spoken passage written and narrated by actor River Phoenix). The songs are separated by wild-sounding interludes of folk music from the peoples of the region, and there is a fascinating vocal/percussion arrangement of Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Nozani Na."

Fretwork here unveils some obscure but engaging works from the golden age of English consort music by the little-known but accomplished composers Martin Peerson and John Milton, father of the celebrated poet. The programme combines scholarship, performance and recording technology to bring to light some two-dozen forgotten works, from dancing almaines to brooding intricate fantasias.