Esperanza Spalding has announced a new collaborative album with heralded Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento. Recorded in Brazil last year, Milton + Esperanza is due out August 9 via Concord. They’re also sharing the lead single, “Outubro”—a rework of the 1969 original that appeared on Nascimento’s Courage, making it the oldest song of his to be featured on the album—which you can listen to below. Scroll down for Spalding’s solo tour dates.
Spanning 16 tracks, Milton + Esperanza is an ode to the friendship that’s blossomed between the two artists over the past decade plus. Five songs are re-imaginations of Nascimento’s own material, and two are interpretations of other classics: the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song.” Milton + Esperanza also features Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes, Carolina Shorter, and Shabaka Hutchings, among others.
Milton + Esperanza is Spalding’s first album since 2021’s Songwrights Apothecary Lab, which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Spalding won the same Grammy Award two years prior with her 2019 full-length, 12 Little Spells.
Revisit the interview “Esperanza Spalding: Insubordinate by Nature.”
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Milton + Esperanza:
01 The Music Was There
02 Cais
03 Late September
04 Outubro
05 A Day in the Life
06 Interlude for Saci
07 Saci [ft. Guinga]
08 Wings for the Thought Bird [ft. Elena Pinderhughes and Orquestra Ouro Preto]
09 The Way You Are
10 Earth Song [ft. Dianne Reeves]
11 Morro Velho [ft. Orquestra Ouro Preto]
12 Saudade Dos Aviões da Panair (Conversando No Bar) [ft. Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes and Lula Galvão]
13 Um Vento Passou (Para Paul Simon) [ft. Paul Simon]
14 Get It by Now
15 Outra Planeta
16 When You Dream [ft. Carolina Shorter]
Esperanza Spalding:
05-26 Columbus, OH – Ohio Black Expo
06-01 Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
06-02 Princeton NJ – McCarter Theatre Center
06-03 Camden, NJ – Wiggins Waterfront Park
06-19 Montgomery, AL – Montgomery Performing Arts Centre
08-01 Los Angeles, CA – Luckman Fine Arts Complex
08-02 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
08-03 Portland, OR – Vanport Jazz Festival
08-04 Seattle, WA – Benaroya Hall
08-09 Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theater
08-10 Rio Rancho, NM – Rio Rancho Events Center
09-13 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
09-14 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
09-15 St. Louis, MO – Music at the Intersection
09-16 Skokie, IL – North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
09-17 Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Performing Arts Center
11-13 New Orleans, LA – Orpheum Theater
11-14 Austin, TX – Paramount Theatre
11-15 Stillwater, OK – The McKnight Center for the Performing Arts
11-16 Salina, KS – The Stiefel Theatre
02-04-11 Miami, FL – Botti at Sea
02-18 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-19 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-20 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-21 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-22 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-23 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-25 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-26 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-27 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
02-28 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
03-01 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
03-02 New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
