The first time the 39-year-old American bassist, singer, composer and five-time Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding heard the music of Milton Nascimento it changed her life.
American bassist, singer and jazz sprite Esperanza Spalding first worked with Nascimento in 2010 (they were introduced by Herbie Hancock), though it has taken a decade more for this full-blown collaboration between the 81-year-old and his garlanded 39-year-old acolyte, who describes Nascimento and Shorter as her heroes.
The singer-songwriter, now 81, is venerated in his native Brazil for his timeless melodies, evocative lyrics and compositions that readily embrace a wide world of influences, from bossa nova to baroque and The Beatles; he has also shown an admirable commitment to using music to fight political, social and racial injustice.
Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento has long fascinated western musicians, in particular US jazzers such as the late sax titan Wayne Shorter, though UK yacht rockers Duran Duran also bagged him for their 1993 track Breath After Breath.
Nascimento’s spirit and vitality have captivated numerous international admirers, including Paul Simon, Björk and the late, great jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, whose landmark 1975 album with Nascimento, Native Dancer, was Spalding’s gateway drug. “Ninety per cent of things I write, I’m thinking of him,” the preternaturally gifted Spalding has said of her hero. “I’m thinking of his voice. I’m imagining singing it with him. He’s a very present part of my creative imagination.”
Although she has already realised a heartfelt ambition to record with Nascimento, when he sang on a track on her 2010 album Chamber Music Society, for Spalding this new release represents a whole other dimension of dream-come-true.
For one thing, it was thought that Nascimento had effectively retired from making music; two years ago he staged a global farewell tour. Secondly, Spalding not only managed to persuade Nascimento to record five of his beloved classics but also wrote new songs with him firmly in mind, then invited an impressive roll-call of guests to join them, including Simon, Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Shabaka and the Brazilian string ensemble Orquestra Ouro Preto.
It’s a quixotic affair, built around versions of Nascimento classics such as Outubro and Saudade Dos Aviões Da Panair, on which the pair’s contrasting vocals combine and entrance. Spalding sings high and larkish, Nascimento low and rugged (his days of soaring are done) and invariably with a poetic, nostalgic tinge. Among the standouts is his duet with Paul Simon (with whom he has paired before) on Um Vento Passou. Nothing can save Michael Jackson’s Earth Song from empty pomposity, not even Dianne Reeves singing lead, while their version of the Beatles’ A Day in the Life is upbeat and, under tropical skies, plain odd. Some bright, brief Spalding originals and snatches of instrumental and spoken word whimsy are woven through this warm but fragmentary offering.
