Butterfly Dreams

Stories to Tell	Open Your Eyes You Can Fly	Nothing Will Be as It Was...Tomorrow/Everyday Everynight	500 Miles High	Flora's Song
Encounter	Perpetual Emotion Though her voice cracks occasionally and sounds ever slightly lower in pitch than when she reigned in the 1970s, Flora Purim is still one of the finest jazz vocalists around. Why she has not recorded since 1994 is a bit of a mystery, but Perpetual Emotion shows that the Queen of ...	Everybody Digs Bill Evans	Speak No Evil	Three-Way Mirror

Fusion with a Brazilian tinge
This is an excellently conceived album featuring a few of the top jazz players working in the early 1970s. Bassist Stanley Clarke plays an important role as an arranger & composer. Purim's husband Airto plays drums and percussion (via overdubbing). Though the keyboardist on this album is George Duke, make no mistake: the shadow of Chick Corea early version of Return to Forever (of which Purim, Clarke, and Airto were all members) looms large here. For those who love the first two RTF albums, _Butterfly Dreams_ will provide a very rewarding variation on the musical style carved out on those recordings: Airto's drumming (which to my ears always sounds like a tasty mix of samba & Tony Williams), Clarke's melding of jazz, Brazilian, and funk characteristics, and of course Purim's airy, acrobatic, and intense voice are prominent. Duke plays both electric piano and synthesizers (don't worry--the synth is always tasteful here), and does an admirable job of filling Corea's shoes. For me, one of the real treats of this album is the playing by tenor sax great Joe Henderson. The tracks are more tightly arranged (& therefore more concise) than early RTF, but Henderson gets in a number of superb solos. Amazon's 30-second sample of "Summer Night" gives an incomplete impression of this cut, which I consider to be the highlight of the album. Through overdubbing or phasing (I can't tell which), Purim wordlessly sings the melody along with herself--the echo-like sound that results is eerie, and yet highly evocative of the thick air and hazy conditions of a summer night. (The unexpected use of a zither also gives the track some of its rich atmosphere). The program is varied in mood, tempo, and texture; the musicianship is great; the sound (+ remastering) is superb. I highly recommend this recording to fans of Brazilian jazz and fusion--or to those interested in exploring either genre.

Flora Peaked With This Album
Flora made quite a name for herself with the release of this album. She made Down Beat's top five female jazz vocalists of the year with the release of Butterfly Dreams. Another superb Flora album is Stories To Tell. These two albums marked her peak. Her work with Chic Corea was also superb and remarkable on Return To Forever and Light As A Feather. After Stories To Tell her voice and enthusiasm seem to wane. In the early 1970s, Purim was arrested and briefly incarcerated for cocaine possession. Perhaps that was the mistake that brought her down. Her subsequent albums did not shine like her previous work. In any event I do recommend this album highly.