Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Video:Airto Moreira

Airto Moreira was born in Itaiópolis, Brazil, into a family of folk healers, and raised in Curitiba and São Paulo. Showing an extraordinary talent for music at a young age, he became a professional musician at age 13, noticed first as a member of the samba jazz pioneers Sambalanço Trio and for his landmark recording was Quarteto Novo with Hermeto Pascoal in 1967. Shortly after, he followed his wife Flora Purim to the United States.

After moving to the USA, Airto began playing regularly with jazz musicians in New York, including the bassist Walter Booker. Through Booker, Airto began playing with Joe Zawinul, who in turn introduced him to Miles Davis. At this time Miles was experimenting with electronic instruments and rock and funk rhythms, a form which would soon come to be called jazz fusion. Airto was to participate in several of the most important projects of this emerging musical form. Airto stayed with Miles for about two years, touring and participating in the creation of the seminal fusion recording Bitches Brew (1970).

Shortly after leaving Miles, Airto joined other Miles alumni Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitous in their group Weather Report, playing percussion on their first album, Weather Report (1971). He left Weather Report (replaced by Dom Um Romão and Muruga Booker for their Sweetnighter album) to join fellow Miles alumnus Chick Corea's new band Return to Forever. He played drums on Return to Forever's first two albums, their Return to Forever and Light as a Feather in 1972. These albums are regarded today as classics of the fusion genre.

Airto was a contributor to many of Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart's world music/percussion albums in Rykodisc's The World collection, including The Apocalypse Now Sessions, Dafos, Supralingua, and Planet Drum, which won a World Music Grammy in 1991. He can be heard playing congas on Eumir Deodato's 1970s space-funk überhit Also sprach Zarathustra on the Prelude album.

Airto has played with many of the greatest names in jazz including Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Al Di Meola, Zakir Hussain, George Duke and Mickey Hart. He has also played with the Latin/fusion rock band Santana, with symphony orchestras, and as a solo percussionist. During live performances he often includes a samba solo, where he emulates the sound of an entire band using just a single pandeiro.

In addition to jazz concerts and recordings, he has composed and contributed music to film and television (including scores for Apocalypse Now and Last Tango in Paris), played at the re-opening of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt (along with fellow professor of ethnomusicology Halim El-Dabh), and taught at UCLA and the California Brazil Camp.

In 1996, Airto and his wife Flora Purim collaborated with P.M. Dawn on the song "Non-Fiction Burning" for the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Rio, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Awards

• Airto was voted the number one percussionist in “Down Beat Magazine's Critics Poll” for the years 1975 through 1982 and most recently in 1993.
• In September 2002, Brazil’s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso named Airto Moreira and Flora Purim to the “Order of Rio Branco”, one of Brazil's highest honors.

Discography

As leader

• 1970: Natural Feelings (One Way Records) – Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal, Ron Carter and Sivuca.
• 1971: Seeds on the Ground (One Way Records) – Purim, Pascoal, Carter, Sivuca, Dom Um Romão, and Severino de Oliveira.
• 1972: Free (CTI Records) – featuring Purim, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Stanley Clarke
• 1973: Fingers (CTI Records) – Purim, David Amaro, Hugo Fattoruso, Osvaldo Fattoruso and Ringo Thielmann
• 1974: Virgin Land (CTI Records) Purim, Amaro, Clarke, Alex Blake, Eddie Daniels, Gabriel DeLorme, George Duke, George Marge, Jane Taylor, Kenny Ascher, and Milcho Leviev
• 1975: Identity – Purim, Amaro, Egberto Gismonti, Herbie Hancock, John Heard, John Williams, Luis Johnson, Raúl de Souza, Roberto, Ted Lo and Wayne Shorter
• 1976: Promises of the Sun (Arista) – Purim, de Souza, Hugo Fattoruso, Milton Nascimento, Novelli, and Toninho Horta.
• 1977: I'm Fine, How Are You? (Warner Music Japan) – featuring Fattoruso, de Souza, Ruben Rada, Jaco Pastorius on "Nativity".
• 1979: Touching You… Touching Me (Warner Music Japan) – Purim, Fatturoso, Al Ciner, Alphonso Johnson, Bayette, George Duke, George Sopuch, Herb Alpert, Joe Farrell, Jose Bertrami, Laudir de Oliveira, Manolo Badrena, Marcos Valle, Michael Boddicker, Nivaldo Ornellas, Peter Bunetta, Richard Feldman and The Sweet Inspirations.
• 1984: Misa Espiritual: Airto's Brazilian Mass (Harmonia Mundi) – Gil Evans, WDR Big Band, WDR Strings, Marcos Silva
• 1985: Three-way Mirror – with Purim and Joe Farrell (his last recording)
• 1986: Latino: Aqui Se Puede (Montuno) – Purim, Alphonso Johnson, Cachete Maldonado, Donaldo Alias, Frank Colon, Geni da Silva, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jeff Elliot, Farrell, Jorge Dalto, Kei Akagi, Keith Jones, Larry Nass, Laudir de Oliveira, Neves, Rafael Jose, de Souza, Tite Curet Alonso and Tony Moreno.
• 1988: Samba De Flora (Montuno) – Purim, Johnson, Angel Maldonado, Bruce Bigenho, David Tolegian, Dom Camardella, Alias, Colon, Hidalgo, Eliot, Jill Avery, Farrell, Dalto, Akagi, Jones, Nass, de Oliveira, Luiz Munoz, Michael Shapiro, Jose, Randy Tico, de Souza, Roland Bautista, Rolando Gingras and Moreno
• 1989: Struck by Lightning (Venture Records) – Purim, Bob Harrison, Chick Corea, Gary Meek, Herbie Hancock, Jose Neto, Junior Homrich, Marcos Silva, Mark Egan, Mike Shapiro, Randy Tico and Stanley Clarke
• 1989: Killer Bees (B&W Music BW041) – Purim, Corea, Meek, Hancock, Hiram Bullock, Mark Egan and Clarke
• 1992: The Other Side of This (Rykodisc) – for Mickey Hart's The World series
• 1993: Revenge of the Killer Bees (remix of Killer Bees) (Electric Melt)
• 1999: Homeless (MELT 2000)
• 1999: Code: Brasil Target: Recife (MELT 2000)
• 2003: Life After That with daughter Diana, wife Flora plus Oscar Castro Neves and others.

with Fourth World

• Fourth World Recorded live at Ronnie Scott's (1992)
• Fourth World (1994)
• Fourth World [live] (1995)
• Encounters of the Fourth World (1995)
• Last Journey (1999)

As band member

with Quarteto Novo

• Quarteto Novo (1967)

As sideman

with Cannonball Adderley

• Phenix (1975, Fantasy)

with Jacob Anderskov

• Ears to the Ground (2008)

with George Benson

• White Rabbit (CTI, 1972)

with Kenny Burrell

• God Bless the Child (CTI, 1971)

with Donald Byrd

• Kofi (1969-70)

with Miles Davis

• Bitches Brew (1970)

with Eumir Deodato

• Prelude (CTI, 1972)

with Paul Desmond

• Summertime (A&M/CTI, 1968)
• From the Hot Afternoon (A&M/CTI, 1969)
• Bridge Over Troubled Water (A&M/CTI, 1970)

with Al Di Meola

• Soaring Through a Dream (1985)

with Andreas Georgiou

• Asate (2003)

with Stan Getz

• Captain Marvel (Verve, 1972)

with Astrud Gilberto

• Gilberto with Turrentine with Stanley Turrentine (CTI, 1971)

with Dizzy Gillespie

• Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Enja, 1989)
• Rhythmstick (CTI, 1990)

With Johnny Hammond

• Breakout (Kudu, 1971)
• Wild Horses Rock Steady (Kudu, 1971)
• The Prophet (Kudu, 1972)

with Mickey Hart

• The Apocalypse Now Sessions: The Rhythm Devils Play River Music (Passport, 1980)
• Däfos (1983)
• At the Edge (1990)
• Planet Drum (1991)
• Mickey Hart's Mystery Box (1996)
• Supralingua – (1998)

with J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding

• Betwixt & Between (A&M/CTI, 1969)

with Stephen Kent

• Stephen Kent Live at Starwood (2005)

with Hubert Laws

• Afro-Classic (CTI, 1970)
• The Rite of Spring (CTI, 1971)
• Wild Flower (Atlantic, 1972)

with Edu Lobo

• Cantiga de Longe (1971)

with Milton Nascimento

• Courage (A&M/CTI, 1969)

with Opa

• Goldenwings (1976)

with Hermeto Pascoal

• Slaves Mass (1976)

with Duke Pearson

• How Insensitive (1969)

with Flora Purim

• Butterfly Dreams (1973)

with Return to Forever

• Return to Forever (1972)
• Light as a Feather (1972)

with Lawson Rollins

• Infinita (2008)
• Espirito (2010)

with Santana

• Borboletta (Columbia, 1974)

with Don Sebesky

• Giant Box (CTI, 1973)

with Belinda Underwood

• Underwood Uncurling (2005)

with Weather Report

• Weather Report (1971)

with Randy Weston

• Blue Moses (CTI, 1972)

Filmography

• 2006: Airto & Flora Purim: The Latin Jazz All-Stars

External links

• Airto's official website
• Europe Jazz Network bio
• Airto's interview
• Airto Moreira interview at Allaboutjazz.com

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