Artiste: Flora Purim and Airto Moreira
Album: The Magicians
Spotlight Track: Garimpo
Label: Concord Records
Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Kenny Loggins – Vocals
Jeff Elliott, Mary Fettig, Rolando Gingras, Daniel Reagan – Horns
Larry Ness, Ricardo Pelxoto, David Zelher – Guitars
Kel Akagi, George Duke, Marcos Silva – Keyboards
Gary Brown, Bob Harrison, Keith Jones, Randy Tico – Basses
Celso Alberti, Airto Moreira, Tony Moreno – Drums
Airto Moreira, Doug Scott, Chas Thompson – Drum Machines
Airto Moreira – Percussion
Produced by Airto Moreira for Airflo Productions
Back from Java Jazz 2007, the boys have well expressed the highlights of the trip already, so I’ll spare you the details. Instead I’ll focus on Mr Airto (Eye-Ear-Toe) Moreira, and his very sublime wife Flora Purim. These two jazz legends were for me the highlight of the Jazz Fest. When on stage, they have a magical presence and a good sense of humour. Airto seems to have a thousand hands, makes a million sounds (the baby crying plastic bag takes the cake!) and beats the hell out of the drums, while Flora, the tai tai she is, has a voice to melt all the ice kachangs in Singapore.
Garimpo is a perfect example of how diversed their sound can be. The freedom of jazz is evident in this track as the feel-good rythmn grooves you, and Flora’s heavenly voice makes you crave for more ice kachang. It’s so easy to listen to, and impossible not to like. The trademark breakdown with Flora’s soaring scatting picks up again and drops in with a killer groove. Mad.
I am very happy to have witnessed these 2 legends live at Java Jazz. Big up the whole crew at Jakarta, and may more cats turn up for the Festival in 2008. EZ!
Tangkap This!!!
-Kenny
