Wayne Shorter (with Milton Nascimento): Ponta de Areia

The leader of the date is Wayne Shorter, but vocalist Milton Nascimento almost steals the show with his catchy melody and sweet wordless vocal. Nascimento has an angelic falsetto, which he demonstrates to good effect on this track. But Shorter adds a surprising twist by matching the sound of his soprano sax to the timbre of Nascimento's voice. The result is five minutes of blissful music-making, a fresh take that ignores the expectations of Weather Report and Blue Note fans, and reveals instead a different side of Wayne. Folks like Pat Metheny were obviously listening. This whole mixture looks forward to Still Life (Talking) and Metheny's other Brazilian-oriented 1980s projects. But this music doesn't need later events to validate its importance. Its own merits are eminently accessible, even on a first hearing.