Milton Nascimento

Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento's music could not have been created by anyone but a passionately partisan Brazilian national, yet he consistently transcends his dearly held cultural identity. He is an anomaly, an original whose recordings have struck private chords in diverse millions worldwide. His latest recording, Nascimento, is pared down, percussive, airy and supports his voice on its stratospheric travels. It's a quantum leap beyond the overblown miasma of LA-bred "soft jazz" and star-struck pop visitations of his past few albums. For many of his admirers, the only real hint that Milton was still on his game was his brief appearance on Rhythm Of The Saints, where his melancholic timbre danced like an incantation and nearly blew Paul Simon off his own record. On this 1997 release, he has checked back in where he lives and it's about time.