1976 Airto Fogo “Airto Fogo” on Deram

This is almost certainly THE best French boogie-fusion jazz-prog jammy blowout you’ve never heard of but have possibly mistaken for a Brazilian percussionist in the past, especially since our man Fogo is a MONSTER drummer. There’s Rhodes galore, sax breaks, big fills, and total 70’s cinema action on top of a virginal jazzy foundation. Sometimes fronting as Chico Loco, and others as Sylvain Krief, Fogo put out just one record, which is bizarre for how good it is. On the other hand, as Krief he also put out only one record, but that record is the deeply mysterious grail Rupture “Israel Suite / Dominante En Bleu”, which is sort of mind-blowingly good/weird modal jazz-fusion-funk in the full Serge G/Phillip Catherine mode that commands Brand New Lexus prices, if it can be located at all, which it probably can’t. Rupture also features French cinema/Library wheel Jean-Pierre Mas. In any case, “Airto Fogo” is just a killer spin all the way around, definitely in the Mike Selesia realm of free-form jam genius, the record for you if you dig CCPP, but with a whole extra frosting of creative lunacy. Oh YEA.