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Milton Nascimento
song sample
Milton Nascimento Às Vezes Deus Exagera
artist personnel
milton Silva Campos de Nascimento vocals and guitar wilson lopes cançado guitar gastão franco villeroy bass lincoln continentino keyboards lincoln cheib drums
Milton Nascimento saturday, november 7, 8PM Nob Hill Masonic Center
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The love affair between jazz and Brazilian music started in earnest with bossa nova. But the romance reached soaring new heights with the emergence of Milton Nascimento in the late 1960s. More than any other performer, Nascimento has been instrumental in developing Brazilian music beyond traditional styles and popularizing these modern sounds around the world.

Beguiled by his multi-octave voice, which can rise to a clear, rippling falsetto and descend to a rich, resonant cello tone, many jazz masters sought out Nascimento as a collaborator and composer. Herbie Hancock recorded a series of albums with him, starting with the 1969 CTI album Courage. And Wayne Shorter’s 1975 landmark Native Dancer made an indelible mark on the history of both jazz and Brazilian music. More recently, Milton won a Grammy® Award (for 1997’s Nascimento), three Latin Grammys, and he’s collaborated with a host of pop superstars, including Paul Simon, James Taylor and Peter Gabriel—even Duran Duran. After recording nearly 40 albums as a leader, Nascimento finally paused to look back upon the music he helped modernize in 2008, recording the acclaimed album Novas Bossas, a tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim, with Jobim’s son, grandson and a few original bandmates. Jazz musicians continue to explore Nascimento classics like “Travessia,” “San Vicente,” and “Ponte de Areia” (with which bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding opened her hit 2008 album Esperanza), but the Brazilian superstar remains the most thrilling and evocative interpreter of his own music. He appears on this date with an all-Brazilian band.

“Nascimento is gifted with one of the most extraordinary voices in popular music, a benevolent tenor that floats upward to a heartbreakingly pure falsetto.” the new york times “An iconic singer-songwriter who also revolutionized Brazilian music by adding rock, funk and jazz.” san francisco chronicle