Flora Purim is the reigning queen of Brazilian Jazz.

At the powerful juncture where Brazilian music and jazz meet, legendary vocalist Flora Purim has held an important place for over three decades. On PERPETUAL EMOTION, the bona fide queen of Brazilian jazz comes back "home" - at least to her adopted home in the U.S. Her debut for Narada Jazz, the album is also her first recording in the States since 1987. Triumphant and savvy, the album shows her maturity but also her vitality on a song list that leans into the winds of jazz, while also celebrating her Brazilian roots.

Without a doubt, she's a legend at this point, an epicenter in a second wave of Brazilian music in U.S. and the world, after the bossa nova craze of the '60s. But most of all, Flora is a passionate and sensual purveyor of song with - to quote the title of her 1974 album - "stories to tell." Fittingly enough, PERPETUAL EMOTION opens with San Francisco River. Flora wrote the song "about the time when 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."

A Rio de Janeiro native, Flora came to America in the late '60s with her longtime partner in music and marriage, master percussionist Airto Moreira. She enjoyed a high profile during the '70s fusion era, and has continued touring and recording though the years. Another highly personal song on the new album is Flora & Airto, an original love song about the long-standing relationship between them. Flora comments that "even when things looked bad, whenever he showed up, he brought so much happiness and peace. Nothing else was important." Here, Airto is both the producer, percussionist, and also traps drummer, who gets a bold showcase on another Purim original, the high energy Airto's Jazz Dance.

The origin of her new project goes back to her earliest musical instincts, when she was influenced by jazz singers such as Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. Not long ago, she remembers, "I was yearning to sing songs with a jazz feel. I mentioned it to saxophonist Gary Meek on one of the tours he did with me. He said 'you have beautiful songs. I can turn them into jazz, one-two-three.' So he wrote seven arrangements. He did a wonderful job on that adaptation of the Gil Evans' arrangement of My Ship. I am proud to say that I chose the classics like My Ship and Crystal Silence, as well."

.The intimacy and interaction of the musicians behind Purim - Meek, pianist Christian Jacob, bassist Trey Henry, and Airto - is obvious from the musical fruits of the effort. Basic tracks for the record were done in two days. "They lock in together very well," Flora explains, "especially on the free from jazz stuff. The rhythm session went very well. First or second take, and it was done."

On the project, Flora says, "the musicians became like co-producers. They decided to do a little bit here and a little bit there, and it ended up with everybody's contributions. I knew the music, but I was open to ideas." True to the spirit of both jazz and Brazilian music, the musical result on the recording is "loose," Flora says. "It's not stiff. The intention is to show that it's still possible to play songs like this and be free with it."

Also joining the creative ensemble is famed Brazilian Oscar Castro Neves. He played guitar and wrote arrangements for Carinhoso, the poignant album-closer, and also for the rich vocal tapestry on Antonio Carlos Jobim's classic, Fotografia, sung by the OK Corral Choir."

After almost 40 years of making music, Flora has seen ups and downs in her career, but her passionate creativity is still on a high level. "It's the same level in terms of energy," Flora clarifies, "but I have decided to tone down a little bit. It feels like there is no need for us to have a high-powered sound all the time. We can send the same messages with lower dynamics. This is our new, refined creative force."

Working on PERPETUAL EMOTION, Purim says, "it brought me a lot of happiness to find out that I still could sing this music, in an age where electronic instruments are everywhere. I poured my heart into it." It's the beginning of a new chapter in a long, satisfying, organically cross-cultural life in music.