interview with Flora Purim

The music of Flora Plurim has been at the forefront of Latin and American jazz music for over 25 years. She has earned two Grammy nominations for Best Female Jazz Performance and Downbeat Magazine Best Female Singer accolade on four occasions.
Flora’s musical partners have included Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie and she has collaborated with Airto Moreira on over 30 albums since 1967 when they arrived in New York with him in from their native Rio.


Her musical taste and genius developed thanks to her father, a Russian émigré, who played violin and her mother who was a talented pianist in her own right. Before leaving Brazil to escape the repressive regime of the time, she, like many Brazilian musicians, had mastered playing piano and guitar whilst developing her impressive vocal talent.
After arriving in New York Flora and Airto became central to the period of musical expression and creativity which produced the first commercially successful Electric Jazz groups of the 70s.


Pianist Duke Pearson was the first American musician to invite Flora to sing alongside him on stage and on record. She then toured with Gil Evans, and she worked with Chick Corea and Stan Getz as part of the New Jazz movement that also contained the influence of the great Cannonball Adderley.




In the early 70’s, two classic albums - "Return to Forever" and "Light as a Feather" introduced the fusion jazz sound!

Her first solo album in the US, Butterfly Dreams was released in 1973, which catapulted her straight into the Top Five Jazz Singers on the Downbeat Magazine Fame Jazz Poll.

During her career Flora has given her contribution to some of the greatest recordings of the seventies - Carlos Santana, Hermeto Pascoal, Gil Evans, Chick Corea and Mickey Hart . In the mid-Eighties, Flora and Airto resumed their musical partnership to record two albums for Concord for which she received a Grammy nominations and she continues to record and perform right up to the present day.

Jazzmotel is proud to present a LADY OF JAZZ.

This is the interview with Flora Purim.





One question I always ask the artist interviewed for Jazzmotel is: What are your musical origins? How did your taste develop?


My music origins are Brazilian and classical.

In 1967 you left Brazil for New York. Up until then with whom had you collaborated and what had been your experiences in Rio. Tell me about the musical atmosphere that was around Brazil at that time.



I became a professional singer in 1965. I worked extensively with Hermeto Pascoal, Sambalanço Trio, Sambraza Trio and recorded my first LP, entitled Flora é MPM, for RCA Victor. I also sang with the big bands of Maestro Cipó and Pocho as well as with the small ensemble called 7 de Ouros. I worked at the night club Stardust and at the temple of the Bossa Nova in
São Paulo, the João Sebastião Bar. The musical atmosphere was of the high quality of musicians and musicianship that had only one interest in mind: play, play, play! Brazil was beautiful and very inspiring in many different ways.


Musically speaking, what differences did you notice between New York and Brazil?


When I arrived in New York, it was December of 1967, and all I wanted was to listen to my favorite singers and musicians in jazz, which I did in a couple nights when I found out that in the Harlem was a jazz hang called Club Baron. Every active musician in town would converge to that club after their regular gigs, with the purpose of jamming. In other words the difference was only one. I could improvise in any style, and that was acceptable and welcome.
That time was indeed energetic and electric.


How was your first musical contact with New York jazz and in what way did you become part of the jazz musicians scene?


Then I joined Chick Corea and the original Return To Forever, along with bass player Stanley Clark, saxophonist and flute player Joe Farrell, Airto Moreira on drums, while I played percussion and sang unison lines on the melodies with the saxophones and flutes of Joe Farrell. When the group was not touring I would be rehearsing and singing with one of my mentors Gil Evans and his Big Band.


The first time I heard your voice was when I heard "Stormy" from the album "It Could Only Happen With You" of Duke Pearson. And I loved it.
Tell me something about your experience with the music of Pearson and Blue Note.


Duke Pearson fell in love with Brazilian music at first contact. And besides being an A&R and executive director for Blue Note, Duke had his Big Band and invited me to sing in two of his vinyl (LP) records: “How Insensitive” and “It Could Only Happen With You”. It turned out very nicely. He loved it and so did I.


Gil Evans has influenced your music and your artistic development in many ways. Of all his work, what has left its mark on you the most?


One his collaborations with Miles Davies entitled Miles Ahead: Miles Davis +19.


How can we define that New Jazz movement introduced by you, Airto, Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke among others? That sort of Electric Jazz with tropical undertones from the beginning of the 70's that they call Fusion.


I feel that fusion is not a bad way to describe it, except that we have to clarify that there are many types of fusion. That was a Jazz/Brazilian fusion; maybe we should call it illusion.


George Duke, Deodato, Hermeto Pascoal, Duke Pearson, Cannonball Adderley, are a few of the musicians with who you have worked. How much have they influenced your way of making music?



George Duke and Hermeto Pascoal as well as Airto and Gil Evans were the ones who helped me to decide the way I chose to sing by encouraging me to go ahead with my experimentations and validating me by coming to recordings and being part of my process of evolution.


What do you think of contemporary music that fuses 70's jazz with electronic
music?


I think is fine to try it but not everybody knows what it takes to successfully achieve a good result.

Do you think it has the same significance as the electric jazz that you used
to play?


No, I don’t think so.

Flora Purim
Paris - France, June 10th 2008.

Interview with Eumir Deodato

From Eumir Deodato web site :
Widely regarded as one of the most respected and sought-after musicians in the music world, Brazilian-born Eumir Deodato has racked up 16 platinum records to his credit as artist, arranger or producer with combined sales of well over 25 million records in the USA alone.
His discography, including compilations and all his work as arranger, producer and keyboardist, surpasses 450 albums.
In addition, several artists over the years have covered his songs, including George Benson, Lee Ritenour, Sarah Vaughan and The Emotions to mention just a few.
Deodato will probably forever be associated with one song - his innovative rendition of Richard Strauss' classical opus Also Sprach Zarathustra (or more commonly known as the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey).



It's a big honour for me to guest here at JAZZMOTEL one of the greatest Brasilian Composer .
Together with Marcos Valle , Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes , Deodato is the man who made the Brasilian Music History.
In this interview I ask Eumir to talk about his very early period ..and I discovered another great man and artist of course.
Enjoy another great JAZZMOTEL interview .






I know that you have always had a great passion for orchestral music and that you recorded your first session with a 28 piece orchestra when you where 17.
Who were your favourite composers and who inspired your taste?

Some of the classical orchestrators that inspired me a lot were Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Rimsky-Korsakoff  and a few others. On the jazz and pop side, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Bob Brookmeyer, Henry Mancini, and many others.

 
1964 was a very prolific year for you. From your first album "Inútil Paisagem" where you mainly performed and rearranged classic pieces by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes up to "Idéias" where apart from the songs of Marcos Valle and other composers, we started to hear some of your own compositions. How did you go about choosing the tracks for your LP´s?

Usually together with the record company and some of the writers of the songs involved.


 
Again in 1964 with "Impulso" and "Tremendão", you begin a chapter which is very dear to me: Os Catedráticos, the use of the organ and a turning point for Bossa Nova, for me ...
Tell me about this project and of the contribution that the organ gave to create that sound that today is known as Lounge.



This started with my collaboration with a small Brazilian label called Equipe. I did an album for them called "Los Danseros In Bolero" since boleros were still very popular in Brazil. It had an instant success which was then followed by Os Catedráticos which was originally intended as a dance group playing mostly samba and slow dancing pieces.

 
Roberto Menescal, Paulo Moura,Wilson das Neves, Maurílio Santos, Rubens Bassini, Dom Um Romão, Airto, Bebeto remember are a few of musicians you have played with. What kind of relationship did you have with these great musicians considering that you were all very young and full of ideas?

These were mostly studio musicians at that time and also the best ones you could find then.


 
Milton Nascimento, Marcos Valle, Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim in Rio and then you moved to New York in 1968 and you started to work with the Brazilians that were already there: Luiz Bonfa, Astrud Gilberto, Walter Wanderley and again with Marcos Valle . What was the difference between composing in Brazil and composing in the States? Were there other influences at work in the States and what were they?





The major differences of working in the States versus Brazil is primarily the fact that in the States the musicians have a more serious development (studying in colleges and Universities) and a very good sense of "team" as opposed to "individual" which happens a lot in Brazil and other less developed countries. Besides, it´s much easier to find equipment and instruments in the US.  Better and more advanced studios etc.

 
You arranged "Beach Samba" for Astrud Gilberto and you were noticed by Creed Taylor, from then on you started to produce for many artists. In which way did your musical taste change working for CTI?

I learned a lot by working with the Creed Taylor "team" (Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham, Ron Carter, George Benson, Eric Gale, Ray Barretto and many others). My most important lesson was to be simpler and let the individual musicians create on their own, which was not the case in Brazil where I had to write note by note for the guitar, for example. As far as my "taste" in music, it did not change at all. Just my "perception" of people´s vision of "pop jazz" and other styles.




 
Your arrangements on CTI for Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Stanley Turrentine George Benson and Tom Jobim made your style much sought after even by artists that were not essentially jazz, like Frank Sinatra (Sinatra & Co.) Roberta Flack (Killing Me Softly, Chapter Two, Quiet Fire) and Aretha Franklin (Let Me Be Your Life). How important were those collaborations for you?

It was always very important to me, to be able to get involved in diverse situations. The biggest challenge for an arranger is to be able to deal with different styles and personalities. But it is even more important to make sure that the artist achieves its goals either musically or even commercially. It´s also essential to work with the record company to make sure that they are happy enough to spend good money in promotion for that particular project. It would be a very serious mistake to go against the record company or trying to impose your musical "views" into a project that needs your help and specific work done.
 

 
And then "Prelude" in 1973 and Also Sprach Zarathustra, 2001: A Space Odyssey, right up to worldwide success and 16 platinum records, and all the other albums (at least 450 in the whole career ) on which you worked on as a musician, producer and arranger .
How did Deodato career change after that in the 70´s ...

I went "on the road" (traveling and doing concerts around the world) and met many wonderful people what in turn helped the continuation of my work even as an arranger. Also got involved with a couple of other movie soundtracks etc.


 
A funny thing and a curiosity : Marcos Valle told me that after exchanging his Rhodes for a DX7 he regretted it and he once came to New York to the hotel Suite where you lived and he asked you to sell him one of your Rhodes. What´s your version of this story?it makes me always smile ...


Since I had many keyboards (6 Fender Rhodes...) I agreed to sell him one of my best ones. We were always good friends...

 
How do you see Eumir Deodato today?

I see Eumir Deodato every day... In the mirror !!! Specially when I´m shaving...

For other infos about Deodato click the link to his site :

 

Carlos " Patato " Valdès

I just knew from my Latin friends in America that Patato was not good ...
Then i had the bad notice from my friend Harvey Averne that the Great percussion player passed ...
I had a look around to get some infos about Him and I went to see a great article on herencialatina.com.
Nobody could explay better than Herencia Latina , the life , the feelings , the vibe and the story of thig little great Brother !
So I invite you to go there and have a read at this story .
Rest in peace Brother Patato and " beat" them all with your Congas !
Jazzmotel

interview to Airto Moreira

This time I would like to propose a chat with one of the Jazz legends I always love because of his way to be a kind of a magical percussion player , a guru .And when i met him , my sensation was to talk to a Witchdoctor... I had the chance of hearing Airto play as a guest star for an Italian group and I thought about talking to him to find out a bit more about a side of him that is little known to the public. Airto Moreira is known above all for his collaborations with Miles Davis, Weather Report and many other Jazz musicians such as Chick Corea or John McLaughlin or Keith Jarrett or even Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, Chicago, Herbie Hancock etc.. In this brief discussion I wanted to focus on the Brazilian period before he went off to New York and met all of the above mentioned names that made him become somewhat of a legend. We also spoke of New York, it was inevitable!

I am very interested in your starting out period when you played in groups such as Sambalanco Trio in 1965 with Cesar Camargo Mariano on piano and Humberto Clayber on bass or with the Sambrasa Trio also in 1965 with Hermeto Pascoal where you played the drums and this trio was very different from the others because its sound was very innovative and very articulate, simple but creative at the same time.

It’s true, here also there was much space and we were very young and ambition was sky high, we had much space up until Cesar at a certain point decided to leave the Sambalanco Trio for a singer called Marisa. We asked him to stay but he was convinced and in love, he wanted to start producing records for Marisa and so he left. Speaking with Hermeto it came out that he really liked our sound and so we decided to ask him to join us. Hermeto joined up on the condition that we changed the name from the Sambalanco Trio to the Sambrasa Trio, we agreed and with his Flute playing the sound became even richer and new, that’s when Flora Purim began singing with us.

The record entitled “Quarteto Novo” in 1967 changed the face of Brazilian music. The sound was very pure, classic but innovative at the same time. That quartet didn’t last very long, what do you remember about that period?

It was a very happy period and musically deep, the group was riding high and everybody couldn’t wait to get into the studio and play, experiment and create. The lovely thing was that, once again, there was enough room for everybody’s creativeness.

Then, after that period, Flora Purim went to New York and you followed her some time after. How did two Brazilians feel in New York?

It was fantastic, it was like being in a film and we were a part of that film. I was 23 and had difficulties because I didn’t speak English. Then we began to meet musicians like JJ Johnson, Cedar Walton and the bass player Walter Booket, then thanks to Walter we began playing with Adderley, Lee Morgan and Paul Desmon as well as Zawinul who put me onto Davis.

There started something that everybody calls ‘Jazz Fusion’ and albums like “Free” and “Fingers” were the start of this sound. The mixture between the sound of Jazz musicians like Hubert Laws or Ron Carter from CTI along with your typical touch created this kind of new sound, how would you define it?

I would simply define it as ‘Brazilian Jazz’.

You have collaborated with many musicians as a percussionist but also as a producer, I would like to ask you something about one of your productions that is very dear to me: “Amazon” by Cal Tjader from 1976?

In the beginning it was very hard work, this record united typical Californian Latin jazz with Brazilian influences. We worked on the project for more than three weeks and the result was amazing, I remember well Cal, when I see the cover it still moves me a lot, it was a great time.

What future projects do you have, are you recording anything?

Flora and myself are continuously recording, we then propose the material to labels for its publication. At the moment I am starting a 3 week tour of Japan and USA with Chick Corea and Eddie Gomez.

Ray Barretto sadly passed away not too long ago, he was also a great percussionist, did you know him?

Yes I knew him, Ray was a brilliant percussionist as well as a great person, the last time I saw him was two years ago in Barbados where we were both there for playing, we crossed each others paths quickly and then I never saw him again.

As you have probably understood Airto, just like all of the others who I have had the pleasure of interviewing, is a very simple person. His way of being made you feel that you were talking to some kind of saint or Macumbero, an experience that once again enriched my Soul Beat spirit, I hope it did the same for you. Peace all over the land.

Interview to Azymuth

After long time i realize another of my dream , seen Azymuth play'n live.
As always i went there and i ask them " eu preciso de falar com vocè " they sayd " tudo bom !" and we had a chat ....
They were very kind to me more than the club owner ...
Heres what we talked that night ....


How have Azymuth changed from the times of "Samba Doido", "Crazy Samba", nightclub Caneçao, Youngsters, Milton Nascimento, Jorge Ben, Deodato, the music from the soundtrack "O Fabuloso Fittipaldi " in 1973 until now?

Now we have more maturity, we can make it different, our heart is open to the young generations and the new music... At the end the difference is the age and the head addiction! It's like a wine…

Your sound is always contemporary and authentic, what are your inspirations... We know that Bertrami worked with Flora Purim and Robertinho Silva: was this an inspiration for Azymuth?

In the beginning when we were young we were listening to a lot of Jazz Big Bands like Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington etc... Orchestras, a lot of Samba too: we put all this together, it was fantastic.

How important was the label Milestone for your success in America and Europe?
Milestone opened the Doors for the world, for the success, it was very important for Azymuth. We did many LPs with Milestones.

Which work of yours do you consider as your best one: Melo da Cuica, Light as a Feather, Azymuth, Partido novo or Telecomunication?
For me (Ivan Conti) our best work is Telecomunication, its a moment, you know, this album is a memorial time in the studio, very clear, we had the open heads, we talked, a lot of communication. We played everything perfect! This is our favourite one!

How important is the label Far Out for your modern sound?
Far Out brought the Band on the road again. This label is important because it gives us another kind of sound. Some years ago we were stopped for a few and we said "let’s get something new started" and Far Out brought the old Azymuth forward again.

What do you think about remixes producers like Jazzanova, Global Communications, Mark Pritchard, Kenny Dope and 4Hero?
Now I like it very much, in the beginning when I heard these remixes I was very excited but it was strange, we were not so ready to hear this kind of changes, we didn’t understand that at that time. Now we understandthat it’s is a new kind of idea and a new sound and we like it.

You have never stopped making music since 1972, always being up to date yet preserving your typical sound. What’s your secret?
The secret is the respect, the patience for each other, some time we fight, of course, but we always get the other way to create another sound... What’s important is the union and the respect for eachother’s opinions and ideas.

What do you think about the new Brazilian music explosion, DJ’s and producers like Marky, Patife, etc.?
There’s a lot of good music now and a lot of bad too!

One of my favourite tune is Manha from 1975, tell us something about that song.
Manha is good times! Everything fresh in our head, we were young, now we have to run like Forest Gump! Manha is a special time song, I like it too!