Search - Airto Moreira :: Life After That

That great old Airto spirit--fresh and alive as ever

S. VALE | Northern California | 12/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first discovered Airto back in the 70's with the CTI release FINGERS. I then got then got everything I could with him playing on it, including the first two (and IMHO, still the best) Return to Forever albums. Still, I always liked Airto best on his own albums. I went to see him play every chance I got and those were some of the best shows I ever heard and saw.
I had lost touch with his music for quite some time, but after listening to this CD now about three times, it is like I had never left. He was and is one of the great pioneers of percussion, really establishing the role of the percussionist as someone who brings new dimensions of sound as well as rhythm to jazz and rock ensembles. And this album gives me the same kind of feeling that those classic CTI albums (which I understand are about to be re-released! Can't wait!) did.
Yet amid all the familiar and warm sounds and soulful vocals and great compositions, there are new delights and the album reflects all the people Airto has played with and all the experiences he has been through. Like all great art.With his daughter Diana's musical entity "eyedentity" and her talents as well as his wife Flora (a wonderful musician and vocalist in her own right and a great partner for Airto) contributing to the production and performance, this is a real family affair and the love and strength on this album really reflects that.
Oscar Castro Neves contributes some wonderful guitar and piano playing among a whole bunch of great musical performances (including a great didgeridoo duet with Airto on berimbau --Afro-Brazilian musical bow) and players. It also makes a nice companion piece to the Mickey Hart produced THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS.
Airto is not only a great musician, but he really is a healer using sound. This album is very healing. But not in the sense that THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS is, nor some New Age music is, but more like how Garth Hudson of THE BAND speaks about the music of the great jazz masters as being healing music. The rhyhm moves you and the sound quality touches your ears and gets into your soul. And the sound quality of this CD is really outstanding.
This is a real treat. Though it does not fit neatly into any categories (again like much great art), if you like good jazz, Brazilian music, melodic adn progressive pop, masterful percussion and composition, World Beat and/or ethnic folk music this album is well worth listening to.
And it rocks!
Thank you , Airto!"

Fullah life

daddyo | St. Tammany | 11/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Airto is certainly a master percussionist. I discovered him when I read a review in Downbeat on Virgin Land. Talk about exciting - he infused his Brazilian sensibilities into modern jazz his own way creating virgin territory. Twenty years later I joined a samba drum group as a novice and became hungry for pecussion-centered samba recordings. In my experience ther is not much to choose from. But alas, I discover LIFE AFTER THAT 4 years after it was released (sorry, Airto) and am delighted.



Airto creates a playground for himself here, especially on Baba and Malanga Went Home and on Hala, Timba and Timbal - exciting stuff.



On Redland you can hear him play a berimbau (a very cool primative instrument) along with Stephen Kent on a didgeridoo. If you like the unusual that works, then you'll love this piece. Ritmo Do Mundo begins slow but becomes a wonderful sway. Mulata and Futebol swings delightfully into a crescendo and a goal. You get to hear what his daughter and son-in-law (Eyedentity)are up to on Let It Out Let It In.



It is his Live Solo that disappoints me. Yes he has incredible imagination and a wide array of verbal sounds. And yes he uses the pandiero to its potentiality but 10 minutes of it is a little long on a recording. He may have done this piece when I saw him Rosie's in New Orleans in the 1970s (I guess) but I don't listen to the whole thing on CD.



In short, this is an exceptional recording for percussionists to listen to. But, please, more straight samba and the like, for me, Airto."