Content area
Full Text
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Ms. FLORA PURIM: (Singing) Flowing from days gone by...
LIANE HANSEN, host:
The inspiration for the first song on Flora Purim's new recording, "Perpetual Emotion," is a memory. When Purim was growing up in Brazil, she used to imagine the San Francisco River flowing from her country into the ocean and onward to America, a journey she herself longed to take. She did, in 1967, pursuing the jazz life with her husband, percussionist Airto Moreira. When they arrived in New York, Flora Purim's dreams came true.
Ms. PURIM: The very first person I met was Thelonious Monk. I managed to get to Harlem and I went to this club on 126th and ...(unintelligible). And because my skin is white, the doorman was giving me a hard time. And Thelonious was walking behind and he saw what was going on and told the man that I was his guest. And he said, `Don't be afraid. Come with me. I want you to sit with my lady.' So he took me inside of the club and in a second as a sat at my table, I spotted Wayne Shorter at the bar. I saw Miles Davis coming in through the front door with a beautiful lady. Then I saw Carmen McRae and Betty Carter came in. Chick Corea was playing keyboards with Art Blakey. And there I was. It was exactly what I had dreamt about, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HANSEN: It didn't take long for Flora and Airto to become fixtures on the jazz scene, and Flora began to work with such notable musicians as George Duke, Gil Evans, Duke Pearson and Chick Corea.
Ms. PURIM: When I was already into the Gil Evans band, Chick Corea left Miles Davis and formed a group called--the original Return to Forever. He brought in a young bass player from Philadelphia named Stanley Clarke, and we had wonderful Joe Farrell. Marvelous. And...