Flora Purim had a terrific run in the seventies, with
nine consistently strong albums recorded in a period of just less than seven
years, as well as her excellent and famous work with Chick Corea in the first line-up
of the Return To Forever group showcasing her to good effect on their eponymous
debut and the hugely successful follow-up ‘Light As A Feather’. As a solo
performer she gained her greatest praise and notices as a stand-out and more
sensual latin-jazz artist, but the true commercial crossover came with her
highly successful ‘Open Your Eyes You Can Fly’.
All of the songs here are great, with some perhaps not
as impressive as others, but with fine top-of-the-league songwriters on-board,
including Chick Corea, there are no weak moments. The players too are all
dazzlingly good; witness the exuberant opener and David Amaro’s fuzzy yet
instantly grabbing and playful guitar, or Hermeto Pascoal’s soulful flute
playing throughout.
Best of all though, crucially and aptly, is Purim
herself. Easily at her most charming here, she takes Corea’s ‘Sometime Ago’ and
gives it one of her very best performances, while ‘Ina’s Song (Trip To Bahia)’
features her Portuguese vocals at their most passionate. Her writing
contribution on ‘San Francisco River’ equally impresses, with a catchy melody
and its uniquely cool and relaxing mood.
‘Open Your Eyes…’ is not up there with Purim’s absolute
best work, but that really is just down to her producing such consistently good
recordings. It does though come incredibly close and being notably more uptempo
and upbeat than her other work, it is definitely one to check out.
****
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