Artist Anthologies, 60 Years of Airto Moreira & Flora Purim

No other couple have stamped their seal on the world of Brazilian jazz quite like the iconic pairing of husband and wife, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. Both prolific musicians in their own right with a list of recording credits as long as your arm, this indelible team has lasted six decades with 2024 marking the anniversary year of each of their respective debut studio appearances.

Despite their different backgrounds, the couple’s musical connection speaks to an almost symbiotic relationship to the point where it's hard to imagine one without the other. Flora’s vocals and Airto’s percussion have been two of the calling cards of Brazilian music from the first time they were brought together on Airto's Natural Feelings (1970) to Flora’s most recent Grammy-nominated album, If You Will (2022) – her first release in 15 years. Alone, each of them is a veritable force of nature; together, they are inseparable.

The duo have made for an incomparable unit since first joining forces in the late sixties as part of the Quarteto Novo alongside the equally brilliant polymath, Hermeto Pascoal. At the time, Purim was the leading bossa nova singer of her day, but had soon begun incorporating lyrics of protest into her work, decrying the authoritarian Brazilian dictatorship and its preceding military coup at the time.  This radical spirit would lead to her inevitable censorship and incarceration; framed for drug charges in 1974, she remains one of the only artists to release music while banged up... with the good fortune of being signed to Warner Bros. shortly after her release! 

Through their deep affiliation across the esteemed strata of musical  talent, Airto and Flora have made their presence known in all corners of the jazz world. Flora made her mainstream breakthrough singing on Duke Pearson tropical-flavoured records on Blue Note; Airto came to the attention of Miles Davis, spearheading the percussive freakout of the trumpeter's mouldbreaking Bitches Brew (1970) before making a home for himself on the CTI label from the early seventies. Perhaps most famously during their collective partnership, the two would star on Chick Corea's legendary Return to Forever (1972) and Light as a Feather (1973), cementing their status at the crossroads of globally-inspired jazz fusion sounds.  

Having proved their immortality a thousand times over, the world is better for the inclusion of this coregent pair. No matter what they have in store, the results are always surprising and captivating. Whilst Airto's health is sadly in decline, the couple have only to look to their loving community of fans for support (see the ongoing GoFundMe campaign set up last year). Fortunately, thanks to all-embracing compilations such as this one from BBE and co-curators Paul Bradshaw and Roberta Cutolo, the music can take care of itself, safe in the hands of lifelong admirers and first-time listeners alike.

Check out some of our favourite recordings from Airto and Flora below... 

Read our review of Return to Forever here...