Flora Purim
Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942)[1] 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.
Flora Purim
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]
Personal life[edit]
Imprisonment and FCI Terminal Island concert[edit]
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[edit]
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]