Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer best known for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became well-known for her role in the group Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with many artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Opa, Stan Getz, George Duke, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jaco Pastorius, and her husband Airto Moreira.

In 2002, Purim received one of Brazil's most important awards, the 2002 Ordem do Rio Branco for Lifetime Achievement. She is known as "The Queen of Brazilian Jazz."

Early life

Purim was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Jewish parents who were classical musicians. Her father, Naum Purim, played the violin, and her mother, Rachel Vaisberg, was a pianist. When her father was not at home, her mother played jazz music.

Career

Purim began her career in Brazil during the early 1960s. During this time, she recorded an album called Flora e M.P.M., in which she sang popular bossa nova songs by Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal. Later in the 1960s, Purim became the lead singer for the Quarteto Novo, a group led by Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira.

After becoming an adult, Purim combined jazz music with songs that criticized the Brazilian government. In 1964, a military takeover led to strict rules about song lyrics, and she later said, "I wanted to leave Brazil. There's a river there called the San Francisco River. I used to sing to the river, hoping it would carry me to America."

Before leaving Brazil, Purim married Airto Moreira. Around 1971, their daughter, Diana, was born. In 1998, Diana married Krishna Booker, the son of jazz bassist Walter Booker, the nephew of saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and the godson of pianist Herbie Hancock. Diana later described growing up with her parents as "living on the road, traveling the world like a gypsy."

In 1967, Purim and Airto moved to New York and became involved in a new type of jazz called Electric Jazz. They performed with Stan Getz and Gil Evans in Europe. In the late 1960s, Brazilian musician Moacir Santos taught Purim how to read and write music in Los Angeles. In 1972, Purim joined Chick Corea’s fusion band, Return to Forever, for the first two albums. The band released two albums, Return to Forever and Light as a Feather, both of which received praise. In 1973, Purim released her first solo album in the United States, Butterfly Dreams, which was well received. She was later named one of the top five jazz singers by the Down Beat reader’s poll. Purim also performed with Carlos Santana and Mickey Hart at festivals and on albums during the 1970s. In the early 1970s, she was briefly arrested for possessing cocaine.

Throughout the 1970s, Purim released many albums for the Milestone label. She and Airto also worked with the Uruguayan band Opa. While managed by Martin Pichinson, Purim contributed vocals to Opa’s second album, Magic Time, and Opa performed on Purim’s album Nothing Will Be as It Was… Tomorrow. Her most popular solo song in Asia, especially in the Philippines, was "Angels."

In the 1980s, Purim toured with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra. This work led to Gillespie’s Grammy Award-winning album Live at the Royal Festival Hall, released in 1990. In the 1990s, she sang on the Grammy Award-winning album Planet Drum by Mickey Hart. Later in the 1990s, Purim released her own album and toured globally, starting with a month-long performance at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. The album, Speed of Light, featured musicians such as Billy Cobham, Freddie Ravel, George Duke, and her daughter Diana.

During the 1990s, Purim worked on several projects, including a group called "Fourth World," which included Airto, Gary Meek, Gary Brown, José Neto, and Jovino Santos-Neto. The group released several albums and singles, including Fourth World, Encounters With the Fourth World, Last Journey, and Return Journey, which featured remixes by electronic music artists. The group’s final album was released in 2000.

In 1996, Purim and Airto collaborated with P.M. Dawn on the song "Non-Fiction Burning" for the AIDS-benefit album Red Hot + Rio.

In the new millennium, Purim released two albums: Perpetual Emotion (2001) and Flora sings Milton Nascimento (2000), a tribute to a Brazilian composer. In 2002, during a residency at Ronnie Scott’s in London, Purim and Airto worked with British producer Darren Allison and flamenco guitarist Juan Martin on Martin’s album Camino Latino. In 2005, she reunited with Chick Corea, her former band leader from Return to Forever. As of 2010, Purim continues to tour and perform.

Musical style and influences

One of Purim's main musical influences is the Brazilian musician Hermeto Pascoal. Purim has said that Pascoal "plays the Hammond B3 organ, flute, saxophone, percussion, and guitar. He is one of the most skilled musicians that I ever met." Pascoal also helped train her singing voice. She is also very grateful to Chick Corea, who introduced her to the fusion jazz style she is best known for when he asked her to add vocals to some of his recordings.

Purim has a rare vocal range that spans six octaves. Her singing style is influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, which moves from singing words to making sounds without words while still keeping the melody and rhythm clear. She expanded her singing abilities during early tours with Gil Evans. While touring the world for three years with Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra in the 1980s, she added traditional mainstream jazz, bebop, and performed songs in 4/4 time instead of the traditional Brazilian rhythm.

Purim has shared that, in recent years, "There are two albums that are next to my bed. They are Miles Ahead, the first collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and Blow by Blow, by Jeff Beck. I listen to them every night."

Personal life

In August 1974, Purim was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California, for possessing cocaine. She was assigned the inmate number 2775. During her time in prison from 1974 to 1976, she organized a concert on March 3, 1975. This event included famous musicians from outside the prison, such as George Duke, Airto Moreira, Miroslav Vitouš, Raul de Souza, and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler. Purim usually performed these concerts with very little practice time, lasting about an hour. One of these performances was broadcast on KBCA FM (105.1), a jazz radio station based in Los Angeles. The musicians performed songs such as Chick Corea's "Light as a Feather," "500 Miles High," and "Celebration Suite." This was the first time civilians and inmates worked together in such a way.

Purim’s mother, Rachel Vaisberg, is Brazilian-Jewish. Her father, Naum Purim (1912–1992), was a Romanian Jewish immigrant from Moghilău, which was part of the Russian Empire at that time (now Ukraine). Her sister, Yana Purim (Bernstein), is also a jazz singer. Purim follows the Baháʼí Faith, largely because of Dizzy Gillespie. After Gillespie’s death in 1993, Purim shared in 2002 how he influenced her: "…I loved him also because he gave me a lot of insight and spirituality, he even gave me his praying book…"

Awards and honors

• Has won the Down Beat award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist four times
• Has been nominated twice for the Grammy Award for Best Female Jazz Performance
• Has performed on two Grammy-winning albums: Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra – Live at the Royal Festival Hall, London (June 10, 1989) (1990, Best Jazz Album) and Mickey Hart's Planet Drum (1991, Best World Music Album)
• In September 2002, Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso honored Purim and Moreira with the "Order of Rio Branco," a high recognition given to individuals who have made significant contributions to promoting Brazil's international relations.

Filmography

• 2006: Airto & Flora Purim: The Latin Jazz All-Stars

• Album: Rhythmstick (CTI, 1990)
• Album: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Enja, 1990)

With Bobby Hutcherson
• Album: Cool Summer (2006)