Milton + esperanza (Concord Records) Earns GRAMMY Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album 

 Full-Length Album Collaboration Between Brazilian Musical Icon Milton Nascimento and Decorated Musician/Composer esperanza spalding 

“The affection between Nascimento and Spalding is palpable” - New York Times

“These two voices just sound heavenly together” - NPR

“A quixotic affair” - The Guardian

"An episodic, strikingly impressionistic album" - Rolling Stone

“This might just be the biggest collaborative project of the year” - WXPN 

“A dream-like realm of folkloric myth, plugged into nature’s heartbeat” - Uncut



Milton Nascimento and esperanza spalding’s collaborative album, Milton + esperanza,released in August on Concord Records, has earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Recorded in Brazil throughout 2023 and produced and arranged by spalding, the record is a dream-come-true collaboration. It serves as a beautiful musical expression of a friendship that began nearly 15 years ago. The album has been met with raves including a profile of the duo in the New York Times, an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, a performance together on NPR’s Tiny Desk, and additional interviews in Rolling Stone, SPIN, and much more.  

Nascimento - one of the most beloved Brazilian musicians of all time - is a five-time GRAMMY winner, including Best World Music Album for his album Nascimento in 1998. The Brazilian pop vocalist Elis Regina once declared that “if God had a voice, it would be Milton’s.” spalding is a five-time GRAMMY winner and with today’s nominations a 12-time nominee. She was nominated last year for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and Best Jazz Performance, for a live album by spalding and Fred Hersch - Alive at the Village Vanguard.  Her previous solo album, 2022’s Songwrights Apothecary Lab, won the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Album. 

Watch Nascimento and spalding discuss their new album in this video, https://found.ee/Miltonesperanza_shortfilm, and listen to the album here: https://found.ee/Milton-esperanza 

Milton + esperanza features 16 tracks that celebrate and reimagine Nascimento’s beloved classics, new pieces written by spalding with Nascimento in mind, and interpretations of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song.” A new original song by Nascimento - “Um Vento Passou” - is featured on the album as well, which was written especially with Paul Simon in mind.  Simon joins Nascimento on the recording for a stunning duet. 

Additional guests include Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes, Carolina Shorter, Elena Pinderhughes, Shabaka Hutchings and Guinga. The album features spalding’s core band of Matthew Stevens (guitar), Justin Tyson and Eric Doob (drums), Leo Genovese (piano), Corey D. King (vocals, synths), and several Brazilian musicians, including Orquestra Ouro Preto, percussionists Kainã Do Jêje and Ronaldinho Silva and Lula Galvão. 

Milton + esperanza sparkles with duets between these two voices, exquisite musicianship and what spalding identifies as a central theme of the album: the importance of younger generations creating with, learning from, and building new worlds with elders.  A guiding spirit for the project was Wayne Shorter, whose collaboration with Nascimento, Native Dancer, was released nearly 50 years ago.  “This was all about Wayne,” spalding stated in a recent interview with WRTI. “I think at the end of the day, he is that guiding light for both of us to dare and be expansive, and also go for broke.” 

The genesis for this album goes back to the very first time spalding heard a Nascimento recording, at a dinner party when a friend put on Native Dancer.  “I get chills even thinking about it,” she says.”  “Ninety percent of things I write, I’m thinking of him.  He’s a very present part of my creative imagination.” They would finally meet (thanks in part to an introduction made by Herbie Hancock) and began to collaborate, record and perform live together.  In 2022, Nascimento, now 81, embarked on a farewell tour, and invited spalding to perform on a couple of shows.  At dinner on the eve of her participation in Nascimento’s Boston performance, his son asked her to produce Nascimento’s next album.  She worked in Brazil throughout 2023 recording and producing the album.  

spalding has previously released 8 full-length albums and in addition to working with her heroes including Nascimento and Shorter, she has collaborated with Prince, Herbie Hancock, Janelle Monae, Robert Glasper, Terri Lyne Carrington and many others. As a composer, her credits include writing the libretto for the opera “...(Iphigenia)” with Wayne Shorter, which premiered in 2021.  She is also a philanthropist and advocate, and currently co-directs a non-profit BIPOC artist sanctuary in her hometown of Portland, OR. 

spalding is also touring this year, with dates scheduled throughout 2024, as well as a 12-night residency at the Blue Note in New York City in February and March of 2025.  Nascimento and spalding haven't confirmed whether or not they will tour to support the record; these performances feature esperanza with her band. Tickets are on sale now, see below for the full itinerary.