During my misadventure at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, I took a class entitled “Music of Africa and Latin America”. Though I did very poorly in the class, the teacher hipped me to Brazil’s Milton Nascimento, a phenomenally talented all-around musician. I got goose bumps listening to Ponta de Areia and Miracle of the Fishes from Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer, which prominently features Nascimento and his compositions. This being the feeling musicians are always looking for, I sought out more of his recorded work.

My two favorite Nascimento albums thus far:

• Minas (1975)
  
  Named after the Brazilian state where he grew up (Minas Gerais), this album is interesting particularly because of its diverse instrumentation and use of odd meters. He splices together everything from a children’s chorus and strings to effected guitars and traditional Brazilian percussion instruments on beautiful songs moving between duple and triple meters and compound meters like 5/4 and 7/4.
• Milton (1976)
  
  This album trades studiocraft and diversity of instrumentation for a great ensemble that usually consists of voice, guitar, piano, bass, percussion, and drums. This core ensemble is augmented on several tracks by background horn players, but it still never reaches the expansive sound of much of Minas, resulting in a smaller but equally great tonal palette. Several of the best tracks feature both Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who are given room to stretch out. It takes substantial musical ability and confidence to stand as an equal with either Hancock or Shorter.

I might enjoy these albums even more if I understood a word of Portuguese.