

Soon after, he joined Chick Corea’s original Return to Forever group with Flora Purim, Joe Farrell and Stanley Clarke and they recorded the albums, “Return to Forever” and “Light as a Feather”. He remained with Miles for two years, and appears on such releases as “Live/Evil”, “Live at the Fillmore”, “On the Corner”, “The Isle of Wight”, “Bitches Brew” and later releases including the “Fillmore Sessions”.įollowing his stint with Miles Davis, Airto was invited to form the original Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Miroslav Vitous and Alphonse Mouzon with whom he recorded “The Weather Report”. Davis then invited Airto to join his group, which included such jazz icons as Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea and later John McLaughlin and Keith Jarrett. Zawignul recommended Airto to Miles Davis for a recording session in 1970 for the “Bitches Brew” album.

It was through Booker that Airto began playing with the greats – Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond and Joe Zawinul, to name a few.

When in New York Airto began playing with musicians such as Reggie Workman, JJ Johnson, Cedar Walton and bassist Walter Booker. Flora moved to the USA in 1967 and Airto followed her shortly after. In 1965 he met the singer Flora Purim in Rio de Janeiro. He moved to Sao Paulo at the age of sixteen and performed regularly in nightclubs and television as a percussionist, drummer and singer. At thirteen he became a professional musician, playing percussion, drums, and singing in local dance bands. The city gave him his own radio program every Saturday afternoon. By the time he was six years old he had won many music contests by singing and playing percussion. This worried his mother, but his grandmother recognized his potential and encouraged him to express himself. Even before he could walk he would start shaking and banging on the floor each time the radio played a hot song. Airto Moreira was born in 1941 in the small village of Itaiopolis – south Brasil, and was raised in Curitiba.
