Brazilian Jazz Legends Azymuth Aren't Going Anywhere

Alex Malheiros can't remember the last time he visited Miami, either alone or with his band, Azymuth. He's speaking to New Times over the phone through an interpreter — his daughter Sabrina, herself a musician — and it may be the language barrier or the years blurring together, but he just can't recall the last time he was here.

You can't blame him for not remembering a single visit: Azymuth has been around for more than 50 years, a stunning achievement for any band. The group, which will play a special show on Labor Day at the courtyard in front of Dante's HiFi in Wynwood, is one of jazz music's greatest trios and remains a major touchstone of musica popular brasileira, or MPB.

The trio formed officially in 1973, but all three original members — Malheiros on guitars, Ivan "Mamao" Conti on drums, and José Roberto Bertrami on keys — had recorded together as session musicians in Rio de Janeiro dating back to the 1960s, when bossa nova was the dominant sound. The three had been invited by Marcos Valle, another very famous MPB musician who will also play in Miami this fall, to record a soundtrack tribute to Formula 1 driver Emerson Fittipaldi, and they stayed together afterward.
The group struck a highly successful balance between jazz, funk, and pop, and drummer Conti's blending of samba rhythms with those sounds was particularly innovative. An album like 1982's Telecommunication, which Malheiros considers the band's finest, contains much of what makes the band unique: smooth, airy keyboard melodies and funky basslines blended with Brazilian rhythms, creating an immersive world of sounds that vary from relaxing and contemplative to frenetic and highly danceable. An undercurrent of joy moves through everything they make and even through their performances. (The last time I saw them, at the Dekmantel Festival in Amsterdam in 2022, they frequently led the audience in sing-alongs.)

This signature sound earned them fame and fortune well into the '80s. Songs such as the tranquil vocal tune "Linha do Horizonte" were featured in Brazilian telenovelas, ensuring the group's celebrity status at home. Azymuth's records also sold well internationally, with the disco-ish "Jazz Carnival" hitting the UK Top 20 Singles, allowing the trio to play at festivals such as Montreux. The band straddled the line between jazz and pop, working with Chick Corea and Stevie Wonder. Malheiros believes this versatility is a defining characteristic of the band, something they've intentionally pursued.

"It's something they always had in the core of the band, the transformation," he says. "Bertrami always used to say since the beginning that we shouldn't repeat things, that we should change. 'Let's not repeat "Jazz Carnival." Let's not repeat anything.'"
This mentality has also allowed them to adapt to tragedy. Malheiros is the sole remaining original member of Azymuth. Bertrami died in 2012, and Conti, that crucial source of rhythm, died last year. They have been replaced by Kiko Continentino on keys and Renato "Massa" Calmon on drums, respectively. The trio has already recorded a new album, its first since a 2020 project with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge, which will be released by Far Out Recordings, Azymuth's longtime label since reassembling in the '90s. According to Malheiros, Calmon has already adapted well to the band's spontaneous "freestyle" recording process, where several tracks for a particular album are laid down within just an hour.

"Masa and Kiko, they actually absorbed this way of creation," Malheiros says. "They are contributing the same way as we used to do, but with a new, fresh inspiration."

Many of the greatest icons of Brazilian music from Azymuth's generation are at the end of their journeys. Marcos Valle is 80 years old. Gilberto Gil, who was also minister of culture during current president Lula's first term in the mid-2000s, has just retired from performing at 82 after a lengthy farewell tour. Along with Conti, Rita Lee of Os Mutantes died last year, and Gal Costa the year before. But like other long-running bands such as Tangerine Dream, Azymuth could continue indefinitely so long as its members continue to create with the same ethos, even after Malheiros is gone. He certainly hopes that will be the case.

Azymuth. 8 p.m. Monday, September 2, at Dante's HiFi, 519 NW 26th St., Miami; danteshifi.com. Tickets cost $50 via eventbrite.com.