We recently had the chance to sit down and chat with Loop Loft artist and Brazilian drummer extraordinaire, Celso Alberti.  In this interview he shares some great insights into incorporating loops in productions and live performances, as well as some of his career highlights and current projects.

Then when I moved to the US I started to listen to all kinds of contemporary jazz, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Return To forever, Airto & Flora Purim and a lot of great Brazilian music too, like Ellis Regina, Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti, Cesar Camargo Mariano, Giberto Gil and so many others.

I've been very fortunate to be able to play with some great people on my musical journey and working with Airto & Flora Purim was definitely one the highlights for sure. They are such incredible musicians and I learned a lot with them. Airto is like a brother to me and the funny thing is that we are from the same hometown, Curitiba.

The other highlight was playing with flutist Herbie Mann. Although it was a short period I will always remember Herbie as one of the kindest person that I ever met. I remember our first gig so clearly. He sent me the charts with the music and flew me to Oregon for the gig. We met backstage before the concert and we just went over the form of the tunes and he said that I would be fine. Talking about trust!!  And so we hit our first gig with no rehearsal and it went great!!

And of course getting to play with Steve Winwood was a major highlight for me. I was going to London every year to play with guitarist Jose Neto at Ronnie Scotts and Steve used to show up to watch the show. He loves Latin and World music so he became a big supporter of the band. Him and Jose Neto started to collaborate musically and so they started a partnership that has lasted until this day. In 2005 Steve was in need of a drummer for his US tour and he called me to join the band. That was simply awesome!