As I mentioned last week, this week we’ll have another post on Milton Nascimento, and this time I will focus on his more jazz-oriented work. Of all Brazilian musicians, Milton is probably the one who has collaborated the most with non-Brazilian jazz musicians, in particular with Wayne Shorter. Their joint album, Native Dancer (1974), is absolutely fantastic, a must-have for any jazz lover of whatever persuasion. (But how could it be any different? Check THIS lineup!) They collaborated again in Milton Nascimento’s first American release, Milton (Raça) (1976), also a brilliant jazz album.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing Milton Nascimento in his ‘jazzy’ version twice, at the Blue Note in New York (2005 and 2006). It is not an exaggeration if I say that these two concerts, especially the first one, are among the very, very best concerts I’ve ever attended in my life. Those of you who have been there know that the Blue Note is a fairly small venue, where they manage to fit an impressive number of people for such close quarters (admittedly, all sitting on each other’s laps). But this also means that you are basically ‘on stage’ with the musicians, which translates into very intense musical experiences. For whatever reason, these two concerts were just truly amazing.
I’ll post two Native Dancer songs to illustrate Milton’s more jazzy work: ‘From the lonely afternoons’, and my favorite song of this album, ‘Milagre dos Peixes’. Native Dancer also has a beautiful version of what is perhaps Milton Nascimento’s most famous song ever, ‘Ponta de Areia’, which I could sing in its entirety already at age four. So as you can see, I've been listening to Milton Nascimento pretty much all my life, and have no plans of ever stopping.
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