Airto Moreira To Perform With The Preservation All-Stars Wednesday, March 1

Preservation Hall is honored to welcome esteemed Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira to perform with The Preservation All-Stars on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 8, 9 & 10 PM 

Mr. Moreira's has recorded and performed with legendary artists such as Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond and Joe Zawinul, to name a few. Zawinul recommended Airto to Miles Davis for a recording session in 1970 for the "Bitches Brew" album. 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. 

Following 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". 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". 

His impact [in the United States] was so powerful that Downbeat Magazine added the category of "Percussion" to its readers and critic's polls, which he has won over twenty times since 1973. In the past few years he was voted number one percussionist by Jazz Times, Modern Drummer, Drum Magazine, Jazziz Magazine, Jazz Central Station's Global Jazz Poll, as well as in many European, Latin American and Asian publications.

He has been advancing the cause of world and percussion music as a member of the "Planet Drum" percussion ensemble, with Mickey Hart, drummer for "The Grateful Dead", and master conga player Giovanni Hidalgo and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, along with Flora Purim, Babatunde Olatunji, Sikiru Adepoju and Vikku Vinayakram. Planet Drum won a Grammy Award in 1991 for World Music. Airto also contributed to another Grammy Award winning ensemble, "Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra", which received the award for Best Live Jazz Album.

His song "Celebration Suite" was re-mixed by the DJ group "Bellini Brothers" entitled "Samba de Janeiro". The track hit #1 in the dance music charts over 26 countries around Europe, Asia and Latin America.His composition "Maracatu" was chosen to be one of the official songs for the 2002 World Cup in Asia to open the ceremonies for the event in Japan.

In September of 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.