Flora Purim
Stories to Tell

Sometimes dedicating one’s life to music can present a hefty bill to the artist. Flora Purim and her husband Airto Moreira know this well, for at 83 years old they have ended up at Retiro dos Artistas, which shelters destitute artists in Rio de Janeiro. And to think that her latest album "If You Will" was released in 2020.

In her long career, Flora has won the Grammy twice as the best Jazz Vocalist, and in 2002 she received one of the highest honors granted in Brazil: the "Order of Rio Branco," reserved for those who distinguish themselves particularly for civic merit by promoting Brazilian culture in the world.

Daughter of musicians (a violinist father and a pianist mother), she discovered her affinity for jazz early on, becoming passionate about Billie Holiday, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Errol Garner. At 22, she recorded her first bossa nova standards album "Flora E.M. P.M." with the sponsorship of Dom Um Romao, who was her companion at that time. The subsequent collaboration with Hermeto Pascoal's Quartetto Novo (mentor of Milton Nascimento and inspiration for John McLaughlin) and Airto Moreira produced some politically committed tracks that soon became "uncomfortable" in Brazil destabilized by the Military Coup of 1964.

In order to give "free rein" to their boundless talent, Flora and Airto flew to New York where they began collaborating with influential jazz musicians of the period like Stan Getz and Gil Evans (1967). But the great turning point came in 1971 when they met Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke at the Village Vanguard, who recruited them into the first lineup of the Return To Forever.

During the same period, Wayne Shorter introduced her to an album by the Peruvian-American soprano Yma Sumac, capable of solos ranging from baritone grunts to stratospheric chirps similar to those of birds. Flora was amazed by this singing technique and assimilated it.

Thus her voice, with a six-octave range, developed a unique style in interpreting text and melody, becoming highly sought after, to the point that even his majesty Miles Davis summoned her for some recordings. To be even more "cosmic," she began singing with two microphones taped together, one for the dry tone, the other for the reverb. She reached the pinnacle of her mastery on the second Return To Forever album "Light as a Feather," particularly with the track "500 Miles High." Everyone noticed during her performance at the Montreux Festival in 1974.

The album I want to talk to you about today is "Stories To Tell" recorded between spring and summer of 1974 at the Fantasy Studios in Berkeley (CA) for Milestone Records.

This record climbed the jazz charts despite Flora's concurrent arrest for drug possession. The DownBeat readers voted her the best female singer of the year. The world acknowledged that a white Brazilian singer had surpassed sacred monsters such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae.

The lineup of this record is nothing short of stellar: George Duke on keyboards and synthesizer, Carlos Santana and Earl Klugh on electric guitar, Miroslav Vitous and Ron Carter on electric bass, Raul de Souza on trombone, and Airto Moreira on percussion (but the session musicians involved in the recording are much more numerous and immensely talented).

It begins with "Stories To Tell" (Vitous/Purim/Capolla). The lyrics include some verses by Neville Potter sung by Flora when she was part of Chick Corea’s group. The groove is exquisitely fusion.

About "Search For Peace" (McCoy Tyner/Purim) I’d like to share this passage from the lyrics: "Who've never loved Never known all the feelings and joy that you give. Two became one. There's no search anymore. Peace is inside and you know." The track has a very balanced cool atmosphere.

Side A also contains the cover of "Insensatez" (A.C. Jobim/V. DeMoraes) which Purim interprets in a personal yet respectful way of the original version.

For side B, I particularly recommend listening to the fusion piece "Silver Sword" by Miroslav Vitous where you can fully appreciate Purim’s extraordinary vocal capabilities. In my opinion, it’s the most beautiful track on an amazing album.

Also, the cover of Milton Nascimento's "Vera Cruz (Empty Faces)" confirms what I said about the previous track.

It closes magnificently with "I Just Want to Be Here." Fundamentally the piece is an improvisation by Flora and the co-composing musicians, but it also uses lyrics and music from Jorge Ben's "Saiuba, Saiuba."

Flora Purim, with the "rhythmic support" of Airto, helped to steer Brazilian music, evolving it from bossa nova and binding it inextricably to jazz fusion, but above all, creating new paths that were later followed by a host of musicians and samplers like the hip-hop duo P.M. Dawn.