In 2002, Purim was the recipient of one of Brazil's highest awards, the 2002 Ordem do Rio Branco for Lifetime Achievement. She has been called "The Queen of Brazilian Jazz".[2]
Early life
Purim was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Jewish parents who were classical musicians.[1] Her father Naum Purim played violin and her mother Rachel Vaisberg was a pianist.[3][4] When her father was out of the house, her mother played jazz.[5]
She would bring home those 78 vinyl RPMs and when my father was at work, she would play them. That was how I got exposed to jazz music... basically listening to Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra. But also a lot of piano players, such as Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner, those were my mother's favorites.[2]
Career
Purim began her career in Brazil during the early 1960s. During this period, she made a recording, entitled Flora e M.P.M., in which she sang bossa nova standards of the day by Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal.[6] Later in the 1960s, Purim was lead singer for the Quarteto Novo, led by Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira.[5]
After reaching young adulthood, Purim mixed jazz with radical protest songs to defy the repressive Brazilian government of that time.[5] A 1964 military coup led to censorship of song lyrics, and she later commented on this period of her life as follows: "I wanted to leave Brazil. There's a river there called the San Francisco River. I used to sing to the river, that, as it flowed out to the ocean, it would take me to America."[7]
Shortly before leaving Brazil, Purim and Airto Moreira married. Around 1971, their daughter, Diana, was born. In 1998, Diana married Krishna Booker, son of jazz bassist Walter Booker, nephew of saxophonist Wayne Shorter and godson of pianist Herbie Hancock.[8] Diana later described life with her parents as "[growing] up on the road traveling the world like a gypsy".[8]
Arriving in New York in 1967,[9] Purim and Moreira became immersed in the emerging Electric Jazz. They toured Europe with Stan Getz and Gil Evans.[5] Brazilian musician Moacir Santos taught Purim to read and write music in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.[10] In 1972, alongside Stanley Clarke and Joe Farrell, they were, for the first two albums, members of Chick Corea's fusion band Return to Forever, which released first a self-titled album, Return to Forever, in 1972, followed the same year as Light as a Feather; both received glowing reviews. In 1973, Purim released her first solo album in the United States, titled Butterfly Dreams. It was well received, and soon after she was chosen by the Down Beat reader's poll as one of the top five jazz singers. Purim also worked with Carlos Santana and Mickey Hart at outdoor festivals and on jazz and classical albums[5] through the 1970s. In the early 1970s, Purim was arrested and briefly incarcerated for cocaine possession.[6]
Throughout the 1970s, Purim released a string of albums for the Milestone label. She and her husband Airto were also involved with the Uruguayan band Opa (which means "hi" in Uruguay). While managed by Martin Pichinson, Purim collaborated in vocals in the band's second album Magic Time, and in return, Opa played in "Corre Niña" on Flora's album Nothing Will Be as It Was... Tomorrow (Warner Bros. Records). On the other side of the globe, her biggest solo hit in Asia, particularly in the Philippines, is "Angels".
Through the 1990s, Purim worked on a number of broader projects. One such project was a heavy Latin jazz group called "Fourth World", which consisted of her, her husband Airto Moreira, Gary Meek, Gary Brown, José Neto and Jovino Santos-Neto. They released a number of albums and 12" singles: "Fourth World", "Encounters With the Fourth World", "Last Journey" and an album featuring remixes to their songs by several popular electronic DJs from around the world called Return Journey. The band's last album release was in 2000.
In 1996, Purim and her husband Airto collaborated with P.M. Dawn on the song "Non-Fiction Burning" for the AIDS-Benefit album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization.
Purim in concert, 2007
The new millennium saw the release of two recordings: Perpetual Emotion (2001) and a crossover homage to one of Brazil's great composers, Flora sings Milton Nascimento (2000). In 2002, during a residency at Ronnie Scott's in London, Purim and her husband Airto, collaborated with British producer Darren Allison and renowned flamenco guitarist Juan Martin on the latter's Camino Latino album. In 2005, she reunited with her old Return to Forever bandleader, Chick Corea.[11] As of 2010, Purim is still actively touring.[12]
One of her major musical influences is the Brazilian musician Hermeto Pascoal.[13] Purim has said that Pascoal "play[ed] the Hammond B3 organ, flute, saxophone, percussion, and guitar. He is one of the most complete musicians that I ever met". He also helped train her voice.[5] She also owes a great debt to Chick Corea, discovering the fusion jazz style for which she is best known when Corea asked her to add vocals to some recordings of his compositions.[2]
Purim has a rare six-octave voice.[14] Her vocal style is influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald,[11] which drifts from lyrics to wordlessness without ever losing touch with the melody and rhythm.[5] She expanded her vocal repertoire during early tours with Gil Evans.[5] While touring the world for three years with Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra in the 1980s, she broadened her repertoire to include traditional mainstream jazz, bebop, and doing numbers in 4/4 time instead of the traditional Brazilian 2/4 beat.[2]
Purim has confided that, in recent decades, "There are two albums that are at my bedside. They are Miles Ahead, the first collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans and Blow by Blow, by Jeff Beck. They are with me every night".[6]
Personal life
Imprisonment and FCI Terminal Island concert
Purim was imprisoned at Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California in August 1974 for cocaine possession; she was given the inmate number 2775. During her year and a half imprisonment from 1974 to 1976, she organized a concert on March 3, 1976, which brought in some famous musicians from the outside: Cannonball Adderley, George Duke, Airto Moreira, Miroslav Vitouš, Raul de Souza and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler. Purim usually performed these concerts with little or no rehearsal time, for about an hour. One performance was broadcast on KBCA FM (105.1), an L.A.-based jazz station. Among the tunes they performed were Chick Corea's "Light as a Feather", "500 Miles High", and "Celebration Suite". This was the first time such a co-operation between civilians and inmates had ever taken place.[15]
Faith
Purim's mother, Rachel Vaisberg, is Brazilian-Jewish. Her father, Naum Purim (1912–1992), was a Romanian Jewish immigrant from Moghilău, then part of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine).[3][16][17] Her sister Yana Purim (Bernstein) is also a jazz singer.[18][19] She also adheres to the Baháʼí Faith[5] thanks in large part to Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie's death in 1993 prompted Purim in 2002 to comment on his influence on her – "…I loved him also because he gave me a lot of insight and spirituality, he even gave me his praying book…"[2]
Awards and honors
4-time winner Down Beat′s Best Female Jazz Vocalist[7]
In September 2002, Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso named Purim and Moreira to the "Order of Rio Branco", one of Brazil's highest honors for those who have significantly contributed to the promotion of Brazil's international relations.[9]
Hermeto Pascoal is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is best known in Brazilian music for his orchestration and improvisation, as well as for being a record producer and contributor to many Brazilian and international albums.
Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which includes samba and bossa nova.
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, Corea is considered to have been one of the foremost pianists of the post-John Coltrane era.
Michel Camilo is a Dominican pianist and composer. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work.
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhunters, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is often cited as one of the core groups of the jazz-fusion movement of the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums.
Brazilian jazz can refer to both a genre, largely influenced by bossa nova and samba, that exists in many nations and the jazz music of Brazil itself.
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion album by Chick Corea recorded over two days in February 1972 and released on ECM September that same year—Corea's fourth release for the label. It is the debut of a quintet featuring singer Flora Purim, flautist/saxophonist Joe Farrell, bassist Stanley Clarke and percussionist Airto Moreira, who would go on to record under the name Return to Forever.
Joseph Carl Firrantello, known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.
Airto Guimorvan Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the Brazilian ensemble Quarteto Novo, he moved to the United States and worked in jazz fusion with Miles Davis, Return to Forever and Santana.
Light as a Feather is technically the first studio album by jazz band Return to Forever led by keyboardist Chick Corea. It features saxophonist/flautist Joe Farrell, bassist Stanley Clarke, vocalist Flora Purim and her husband, drummer/percussionist Airto Moreira, who all performed on Corea’s previous album Return to Forever, from which the group took its name.
Romero Lubambo is a Brazilian jazz guitarist.
Planet Drum is a world music album by Mickey Hart, a musician and musicologist who was a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead.
Captain Marvel is a 1975 jazz album by saxophonist Stan Getz recorded on March 3, 1972 and released on Columbia two years later. The quintet features pianist Chick Corea, who composed most of the material, bassist Stanley Clarke, Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira and drummer Tony Williams.
Sambalanço Trio was a Brazilian samba-jazz group formed by Cesar Camargo Mariano (piano), Humberto Clayber (bass) and Airto Moreira (drums). The band started to play in 1964 and lasted for about two years. Their albums are considered some of the most important works of that period and influenced many other groups of samba and jazz.
Opa were an American jazz fusion band made up of Uruguayan members. They started in the 1970s, and released two albums in the US: Goldenwings and Magic Time. Both were produced by Brazilian musician and composer Airto Moreira.
Free is an album by Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist Airto Moreira with performances recorded in 1972. The album was released by CTI Records and reached No. 30 on the jazz album chart at Billboard magazine.
Live at the Royal Festival Hall is an album by Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra. It won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1991. The concert was also released on DVD.
"500 Miles High" is a jazz fusion song by American musician Chick Corea and Return to Forever. Composed by Corea with lyrics by Neville Potter, it was recorded in 1972 for the group's second album, Light as a Feather, which was released in 1973. Brazilian singer Flora Purim provides the vocal and the piece became her signature song and a jazz standard.
Open Your Eyes You Can Fly is the fifth solo studio album by Brazilian jazz singer Flora Purim. It was released in 1976 via Milestone Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. The album features contributions from Airto Moreira on percussion and vocals, David Amaro and Egberto Gismonti on guitars, George Duke on keyboards, Hermeto Pascoal on electric piano and flute, Alphonso Johnson and Ron Carter on bass, Robertinho Silva and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler on drums, and Laudir de Oliveira on congas. One of the songs featured here, Sometime Ago, was composed by Chick Corea with lyrics by Neville Potter and was featured on the eponymous album by Return to Forever produced in 1972, Flora Purim and her husband Airto Guimorvan Moreira also played on that album.
If You Will is an album by Brazilian jazz vocalist Flora Purim. Her first studio release in over 15 years, it was recorded in Brazil and California, and was issued in 2022 by Strut Records in celebration of the singer's 80th birthday. The album is the creative concept of Italian, London based, radio-dj Roberta Cutolo who engaged on this remote-production journey with Flora Purim during the pandemic by managing to lock a recording deal with Strut Records in the UK. They conceived and drew up together the idea of a 'latin-jazz-dance' album with a message which was going to appeal to new audiences as well as the older ones who instantly showed being particularly appreciative of the fact that Flora Purim was unexpectedly releasing something new after such a long time. On the album, which is dedicated to the memory of George Duke and Chick Corea, Purim is joined by a large group of musicians, including her husband, percussionist Airto Moreira, and daughter, vocalist Diana Purim.
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