Airto & Flora Purim: The Latin Jazz All-Stars—Live at the Queen Mary Jazz Festival

Brazilian drummer-percussionist Airto Moreira has a long list of impressive credits, but a few in particular stand out: he played on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, he was an original member of Weather Report (along with cofounders Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, also Davis alumni), and, along with his wife, singer Flora Purim, he performed with Chick Corea and Return to Forever on Light as a Feather, arguably the best acoustic fusion recording of the '70s. Such a history can create great expectations when Moreira and Purim hit the stage, and while this 1986 concert at the Queen Mary Jazz Festival in Long Beach, CA largely lives up to them, it's also scuttled by technical shortcomings. The problem doesn't lie with the musicians: Airto and his band are on fire from the first tune in this eight-song set, a high-speed romp called "Xequere" that features some nifty horn work and the first of several breathtaking piano solos by Kei Akagi. For her part, Flora looks fairly weird—sporting a silver wig that makes her head look like a tinsel-draped Christmas tree—but her singing, featuring falsetto chirps and squeaks described as her "natural sound," is distinctive and original (and occasionally off-key during an otherwise cooking "Light as a Feather," with former Return to Forever saxophonist Joe Farrell sitting in). But even though the visuals and audio are remastered, the former lack crispness and definition, while the Dolby Digital stereo sound is muffled and poorly mixed. And talk about poor presentation: Airto announces that the set will include "the only jam of this jazz festival," but we only see about 30 seconds of said jam over the closing credits. DVD extras include a few text musician bios. Optional. Aud: P. (S. Graham)