On one occasion I interviewed Milton Nascimento and he told me the following story: when he saw a young man in a Belo Horizonte cinema Jules et Jim , from Truffaut, he was so impressed that that night he couldn't sleep, he had to do something important in his life, something that thrilled others, and he wrote three songs in one night.
Those songs would form part of their first album, Travesía , a classic that sounds as if it had been recorded yesterday, with arrangements by the great Luiz Eça, the virtuoso pianist and leader of the Tamba Trio.
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Quarantine with Ginger Baker- Quarantine with Sir Roland Hanna
Milton is a separate case in Brazilian music, his voice is one of the most beautiful and strange instruments that can be heard, his songs are intimate or epic, joyous and mysterious. It can be said that Elis Regina was her discoverer when recording some of her songs.
Musically, Milton has his own universe that has attracted musicians from all latitudes, but especially jazz players. Sarah Vaughan invited him to participate in I Love Brazil and Brazilian Romance and Wayne Shorter in Native Dancer. Monk's sax Charlie Rouse recorded Cravo y canela (Cinnamon Flower) and Paul Desmond, Dave Brubeck's sax and author of Take Five , dedicates an album, From the hot afternoon . From Quincy Jones to Peter Gabriel, from Tony Bennett to Barenboim, from Paul Simon to Duran Duran, they have recorded music by Milton. Until Björk!
Here's my personal Milton pick. I hope you like it.
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