Flora's Song

I remember first hearing Flora Purim in 1972, when she was with Chick Corea and "Return to Forever", and sang the title song of their album, "Light as a Feather." This 2005 release is the first of hers I've heard since then.

Back then, her voice sounded like the title of that song/album. 33 years later, with increased age, experience and wisdom her voice has fleshed out to a deeper, rounder hue. And for this rock-pop-Brazilian jazz third world olio, the sound works.

This album as a whole has a feel of a sunny summer Sunday in the park of a big city, with people dancing, relaxing, communing, celebrating. Special notes to three of the tunes:

The title track, "Flora's Song", has an almost Oriental-feel to its third-worldness. In many ways, it is the most interesting track on the album. "Silvia", even with its searing guitar of Jose Neto, has that feeling of longing for which Brazilians are famous. And the final cut, after all of the relatively loud celebration of life that has gone on, is a quiet duet between Ms. Purim and her long-time husband and musical collaborator, Airto Moreira, "Anjo do Amor", with Dori Caymmi on acoustic guitar. A terrific ending to a terrific album. This cut makes the album--indeed, her life--feel like it has come full circle. RC

It had been many years(30?) since I last heard any music from Flora Purim who I adored as a singer at the time.I thought I'd give this disc a try and was quite pleasantly satisfied. Her vocal stylings were and continue to be unique. Her vibe is part jazz goddess, part mother-earth goddess, plus through in some Brazilian exotica and you've got one distinctive woman. The opening track, "Las Olas," is written by the late Jaco Pastorius which allows for some good bass lines to compliment the nostalgic musings of Flora Purim. It is a fitting introduction as it begins with "So here I am again " and ends with "Until we meet again." There is a nice continuity to the disc that flows like the Amazon, sometimes calm at other times raging and soaring. On "Flora's Song" she invokes the sort of musical vocals that made her so unique. She uses her voice like an instrument, like another jazz horn or flute without lyrics but rather odd jazz-scat-yodeling. She demosntrates her versatile voice throughout the disc. On four songs she sings in her native Portuguese in a variety of styles. "E Preciso Perdoa" is a nice samba tune that features veteran steel pan player Andy Narrel playing breaks between Flora's Bebelesque vocal stylings. The other songs in he native language feature a ballad, "Ano de Mim," where Flora sings softly in a sensuous voice, "Lua Cheia" that features her strange vocal gymnastics mixed with straight up sambaesque vocals and "Anjo do Amor" that is a curious accoustic number that features her and husband Airto singing, well, he sort of drones some unintelligible sounds, like a human drum I suppose. This particular song is the only song that is part English part Portuguese; the second chorus is an English version of the first chorus. All in all it is a rather entertaning CD for old fans of Flora to get reaquainted with again and definitely worthwhile for new listeners that like jazzy vocals and samba rhythms. An exotic and recommended addition to any collection of world music.