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".
Purim was born in Rio de Janeiro to parents who were both classical musicians: her Romanian-born father played violin and her Brazilian mother was a pianist. Flora discovered American jazz, when her mother played it while her husband was out of the house. 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.
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 in Brazil 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. Diana later described life with her parents as "[growing] up 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. 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), 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 Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra – Live at the Royal Festival Hall, London (10 June 1989) released in 1990, and then in the 1990s sang on Grammy Award-winning album for 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, Freddie Santiago, and Giovanni Hidalgo, with important writing and performing contributions from Chill Factor and Purim's daughter Diana.
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, Jose 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.
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 2005, she reunited with her old Return to Forever bandleader, Chick Corea. As of 2010, Purim is still actively touring.
One of her major musical influences is the Brazilian musician Hermeto Pascoal. 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. 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.
Purim has a rare six-octave voice. Her vocal style is influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, which drifts from lyrics to wordlessness without ever losing touch with the melody and rhythm. She expanded her vocal repertoire during early tours with Gil Evans. 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.
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."
I
Flora Purim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
I've got you under my skin.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
I've got you under my skin?
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
I would sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, how it yells in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, ain't no chance to win
Why not use your mentality, get up, wake up to reality?
And each time I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
And I like you under my skin.
Flora Purim's rendition of the classic standard I've Got You Under My Skin is a song about a person who is hopelessly in love and unable to resist the attraction they feel towards their partner. The lyrics suggest that the person has tried to resist the temptation, but the love they feel for the other person is so strong that it has become a part of them, deep in their heart.
The phrase "I've got you under my skin" is a clever play on words, suggesting that the person's love is both deeply embedded in their heart and also under their skin, an irresistible itch that cannot be scratched. The warning voice that comes in the night represents the rational mind, trying to warn the person of the dangers of giving in to their impulsive desire. But ultimately, the pull of passion is too strong to resist and the person is resigned to the idea of having the other person "under their skin."
Overall, the song is a beautiful representation of the power of love and desire, and the way that it can overcome even the most rational and logical of thoughts.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got you under my skin.
I am so deeply in love with you that it feels like you are a part of me.
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
You are so important to me that you are embedded in my heart.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
Your presence in my heart is so profound that you have become an inseparable part of me.
I've got you under my skin.
I am so intensely in love with you that it feels like I have you inside me.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I resisted my feelings for you for as long as I could.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
I was skeptical about our chances of success in this relationship.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
But why should I fight my feelings for you when I know, deep down, that I am in love with you?
I've got you under my skin?
Can't you see that I am completely enamored with you?
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
I am willing to do anything for our love, no matter what the cost.
For the sake of havin' you near
Being close to you is the only thing that really matters to me.
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
Despite my doubts and fears, I cannot help but love you.
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
My inner voice keeps reminding me of the potential dangers of loving you.
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
My doubts tell me that I cannot possibly succeed in this relationship.
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
I should try to think more logically and objectively about our situation.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Whenever I try to be practical, thoughts of you flood my mind.
Makes me stop before I begin
My love for you stops me from being logical and rational.
Cause I've got you under my skin.
My love for you is so intense that it is a part of me, like a physical sensation under my skin.
And I like you under my skin.
I am happy and content to have you so deeply ingrained in me.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@アーナンダコリャナンダ
Yes Laurence, you are right. That is what I wrote " My Image of Crystal Silence"
But I don`t think Flora would disagree and says song is not spiritual and mystic at all.
Chic Corea would be mad if she says so.
English is not my language but this is my image of Crystal Silence.
Though you don`t like it…
The Crystal in the air, dancing on a beam from the moon.
When silence fills this mystic space,
Our spirits crystalize and start to shine.
@BernieHollandMusic
One of the loveliest songs - sung by one of the loveliest human beings - beautiful piano arrangement with Airto's wonderful percussion - so beautiful - so moving xxx
@Ewerb7
Everything Purim does is magical. She has always been at the top of jazz world starting out with Stan Getz (check out the You-tube video with Stan and her playing guitar) and then playing with Dizzy, Chick, McCoy Tyner and many other giants. Just love her to death.
@kerwynw851
Album is entitled Perpetual Emotion: Personnel is Flora, Christian Jacob on Piano, Trey Henry on Bass, Gary Meek on Saxophone, Oscar Castro Nieves on Acoustic Guitar and last but not least Airto on Percussion.
@kerwynw851
Thanks
@KitCotter
Cheers, Brother
@lilimay3845
7
@kathygaither5746
I have been looking for this forever. I love this.
@TheKittenonthekeys
Simply beautiful
@georgehumphrey7214
The Brazilians have a voice all their own to play that beautiful music that they play, first heard it Astrid, fell in love with the vibe!!
@antonzigando150
astrud