Airto Moreira

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Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira.jpg
Moreira in concert in Taichung City, Taiwan, on October 20, 2007
Background information
Born (1941-08-05) August 5, 1941 (age 71)
Itaiópolis, Brazil
Genres Jazz, jazz fusion
Occupations Musician, bandleader, composer
Instruments Drums, percussion
Years active 1967–present
Labels One Way, CTI, Arista, Warner Music Japan
Associated acts Flora Purim
Website airto.com

Airto Moreira (born August 5, 1941)[1] is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer.[1] He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Contents

Biography [edit]

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.[1] 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).[2]

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.[1] 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.[1] 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[3] (along with fellow professor of ethnomusicology Halim El-Dabh[4]), 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 [edit]

  • 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.[5]
  • 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 [edit]

As leader [edit]

with Fourth World

As band member [edit]

with Quarteto Novo

  • Quarteto Novo (1967)

As sideman [edit]

with Cannonball Adderley

with Jacob Anderskov

  • Ears to the Ground (2008)

with George Benson

with Kenny Burrell

with Donald Byrd

with Miles Davis

with Eumir Deodato

with Paul Desmond

with Al Di Meola

with Andreas Georgiou

  • Asate (2003)

with Stan Getz

with Astrud Gilberto

with Dizzy Gillespie

With Johnny Hammond

with Mickey Hart

with J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding

with Stephen Kent

  • Stephen Kent Live at Starwood (2005)

with Hubert Laws

with Edu Lobo

  • Cantiga de Longe (1971)

with Milton Nascimento

with Opa

  • Goldenwings (1976)

with Hermeto Pascoal

with Duke Pearson

with Flora Purim

with Return to Forever

with Lawson Rollins

with Santana

with Don Sebesky

with Belinda Underwood

  • Underwood Uncurling (2005)

with Weather Report

with Randy Weston

Filmography [edit]

  • 2006: Airto & Flora Purim: The Latin Jazz All-Stars[6]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Yanow, Scott (August 5, 1941). "Airto Moreira". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 
  2. ^ "M.E.L.T. 2000 artist's bio". Melt2000.com. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 
  3. ^ "Europe Jazz Network Bio". Ejn.it. September 30, 2003. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 
  4. ^ Seachrist, Denise A. (2003). The Musical World of Halim El-Dabh. Kent, Ohio, United States: Kent State University Press 296 pp ISBN 0-87338-752-X
  5. ^ "Downbeat Magazine: check the years mentioned". Downbeat.com. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 
  6. ^ "VIEW Listing". View.com. Retrieved 2011-10-22. 

External links [edit]

Weather Report
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
  • "125th Street Congress"/"Will"
  • "Boogie Woogie Waltz"
  • "Birdland"
  • "River People"
  • "Procession"/"Where the Moon Goes"
Related
Authority control
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