This might just be the biggest collaborative project of the year; living legends Milton Nascimento and esperanza spalding just announced a new collaborative record, entitled Milton + esperanza, which hits shelves August 9th via Concord Records. The two titans of jazz music surely need no introduction, but there’s never a bad time to shoutout classic records like Clube da Esquina, Milton Nascimento’s collaborative record with Lô Borges, a landmark album for Brazilian pop music. It might be sacrilegious to imply that Milton could pull off another collaboration as exciting and beautiful as Clube, but if anyone could reach those heights with Nascimento again, it’s esperanza spalding, the prodigious jazz bassist whose music is as technical as it is crafty, often mixing influences from funk and rock into her uncompromising jazz sound.
The album will feature five reworkings of songs from Nascimento’s back catalog, as well as four originals from spalding and a selection of covers that range everywhere from Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” to the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life.” One of those reworkings, an updated take on Nascimento’s “Outubro,” is out now. The new recording recontextualizes the original lyrics and vocal melody over a moody sea of smooth jazz instrumentation, spalding’s angelic voice perfectly complimenting Nascimento’s finely-aged croon. You can check out that single here.
The pair also recorded an album trailer where esperanza, sitting next to Milton on a couch, tells him that he is her one dream collaborator, saying: “When I hear your voice, when I hear the melodies, the harmony, the lyrics, it’s like home.”