FLORA PURIM
Butterfly Dreams
Milestone
Flora Purim arrived on the American jazz scene
in the late 1960s, around the time when Brazilian-influenced
percussion and fusion were riding high. Not surprisingly,
her discography is heavy on both sounds: percussion courtesy
of her husband, Airto Moreira, and fusion via collaborators
such as Chick Corea, Stanely Clarke, and George Duke. As
vocalist in the original (1971-73) version of Corea’s
band Return to Forever (which also featured Clarke and saxophonist
Joe Farrell as well as Moreira), her light, airy vocals
were in keeping with the group’s overall bright sound.
Purim cut a total of six albums for Orrin
Keepnews’ Milestone label, all produced by Keepnews
himself. Butterfly Dreams is generally acknowledged
to be not only one of the best of her Milestone projects,
but one of the best albums in her discography overall. There
is a freshness to her voice here that is not always evident
in later work, although she has remained a consistently
interesting vocalist to listen to. It doesn’t hurt
that her collaborators here are among her most sympathetic.
Clarke and Moreira help keep the RTF vibe ever-present on
this recording, while Joe Henderson and keyboard whiz George
Duke fit right into the overall sound. David Amaro adds
a little texture on both acoustic and electric guitar. Though
he isn’t given all that much to do, he does manage
a rock-star electric solo on Clarke’s “Dr. Jive
(Part 2)” and “Light as a Feather”. Ernie
Hood is credited on zither, but his contributions are rather
minimal and kept far in the background, in Keepnews’
words, “basically because we were unable to properly
integrate it.”
Since Purim was, at the time, a member of
Moreira’s Fourth World Band, she had no band of her
own at the time this record was cut, and so we are treated
to hearing Airto play not only percussion, but drums throughout.
He’s an energetic drummer, with shades of Tony Williams.
Moreira always leaves space for Clarke’s bass, Purim’s
vocals, and his own percussion, percolating nicely without
filling up every corner.
As for Purim, her voice is excellent here,
and her wordless vocals, sometimes multi-tracked to produce
near-orgiastic explosions of vocal-as-pure-sound, predate
the similar work of vocalists such as Grazyna Auguscik.
Stanley Clarke is everywhere on this disc, both as bassist
and as composer/arranger. Clarke contributed or co-wrote
half the tracks here: “Dr. Jive” (Parts one
and two), “Butterfly Dreams,” and “Light
as a Feather.” Purim’s native land is represented
by Jobim’s “Dindi” and Gismonti’s
“Moon Dreams.” There’s a standard, “Summer
Night,” and a track co-written by George Duke and
Purim, “Love Reborn.” George Duke is also omnipresent
on this album, playing a variety of keyboards, including
piano, electric piano, clavinet, and ARP synthesizer. He
too was entering a highly fertile musical period which would
find him collaborating simultaneously (though in different
bands) with Cannonball Adderley and Frank Zappa.
For those who enjoy light-sounding (as opposed
to light on musical ideas) fusion tinged with Latin elements
and airy, roomy vocalization, Butterfly Dreams
is the perfect ticket. Remastered in beautiful 24-bit sound,
it’s easy to imagine this being popular with a lot
of adult listeners if it were to be released today. Get
it while it’s hot!
