Flora Purim

Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with numerous 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 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".

Early life

Purim was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Jewish parents who were classical musicians. Her father Naum Purim played violin and her mother Rachel Vaisberg was a pianist. When her father was out of the house, her mother played jazz.Melt2000: Flora Purim (bio)

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."Flora Purim – Queen of Brazilian Jazz", interview by Beatrice Richardson, ''Jazz Review'', 29 January 2011.
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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. Later in the 1960s, Purim was lead singer for the Quarteto Novo, led by Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira.

After reaching young adulthood, Purim mixed jazz with radical protest songs to defy the repressive Brazilian government of that time. 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."

Shortly before leaving Brazil, Purim and Airto Moreira married. Around 1971, their daughter Diana Booker 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.LA Music Academy instructors
Diana later described life with her parents as " rowingup on the road traveling the world like a gypsy".

Arriving in New York in 1967, Purim and Moreira became immersed in the emerging Electric Jazz. They toured Europe with Stan Getz and Gil Evans. Brazilian musician Moacir Santos taught Purim to read and write music in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. 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 through the 1970s. In the early 1970s, Purim was arrested and briefly incarcerated for cocaine possession.

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".

In the 1980s Purim toured with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra, culminating with Gillespie's Grammy Award-winning album '' Live at the Royal Festival Hall'' released in 1990, and then in the 1990s sang on the Grammy Award-winning album '' Planet Drum'' by Mickey Hart, the former Grateful Dead drummer. Later in the 1990s Purim released her own album and world tour, ''Speed of Light'' starting with a month at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, London, with a new band with contributions from Billy Cobham, Freddie Ravel, George Duke, David Zeiher, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Alphonso Johnson, Changuito

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