Customer Reviews

500 Miles High

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brazil's national treasure Flora Purim has never sounded more beautiful than in this incredible concert CD!!! With her flashback from her 'Return to Forever' days, she delivers the goods on the dizzyingly beautiful song '500 Miles High'!!! The effects that Flora produces with that voice are astonishing. It transcends that of other live performers by miles - (500 miles, to be exact!!!) FINALLY - this is available on CD!!! It's a rare classic!!!!!! Fly high with Flora Purim by adding this amazing classic to your collection!!!!!!!

This collection offers a fascinating extrapolation of Flora Purim from her "Return to Forever" days. I was simultaneously thrilled, curious, and convinced. I've since heard other voice artists, but none have compared to the original. Her range, expression, and inventiveness are truly aparadigmatic--then and still.

Flora Purim, with the aid of husband Aierto, and players like the late Ron Carter on Bass, produced an album that had one foot in the world of Jazz, and the other in Brazil. At times contimplative as in the opening, "O Cantador", Ms. Purim quickly switches gears, she moans and scats Flora style into a set that includes Her most famous collaboration with Chick Corea, "500 Miles High", as well as other mood songs like "Bahia(The Wind)", a meditation that contains such beautiful lyrics that you almost forget yourself and you are transformed to some breezy evening in Brazil. As an earlier reviewer noted, I had the album when I was 17, growing up in New York, and cannot name a more ingaging,intimate yet wild, exotic fruit of an album to get aquainted with what Flora Purim is really about.

Length:: 1:01 Mins

The otherwise positive review at the All Music Guide indicated that this album might not be a good introduction to Flora's music. I beg to differ. This album and "Open Your Eyes You Can Fly" are the first two solo albums I recommend to anyone interesting in checking out Flora's music.

Recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1974, this features a slamming set by an all-star band led by Flora and her percussionist husband, Airto Moreira. From a wonderful cover of "500 Miles High," which she recorded originally with Return to Forever, to a stunning duet with Milton Nascimento on his song "Cravo e Canela," this is a high-octane blend of fusion jazz and Brazilian sounds that is essential listening. The closer, "Jive Talk", is a spirited vocal workout between Flora and Airto that culminates in a big finish featuring a memorable vocal melody.

Since this was a festival performance, I doubt they were able to perform a full set (meaning that this 40 or so minutes is probably the entire show). Which begs the question of whether there is some more live Flora music from the '70s sitting in a vault somewhere. I was too young to experience it in person, but she and Airto obviously had an explosive live show going on back then (they're still quite good live, by the way). So let's hear some more recordings of it!!!

I have been looking for this CD. I have the old album; it is a classic. This is a great CD.

I checked out the actual LP of this record because I'd heard Purim's vocals on one of my all-time favorite fusion discs, Chick Corea's "Return to Forever." "500 Miles High" is a Corea track from his Return to Forever line-up's "Light as a Feather" double-album, which also features Airto and Purim.

So, call this Brazil via Corea, and throw in Brazilian soft pop croomer Milton Nascimento on one track, "Cravo e Canela" (Cinnamon and Cloves)." I remember Nascimento from the CD that introduced me to Tropicalia and Brazilian music in general, the David Byrne-compiled "Brazil Classics: Vol. 1."

Purim is a bit of an acquired taste. I think she sounds a bit screechy in that early 70s kitschy sort of way, but she employs it well on this album, able to scat jive with the driving Latin rhythm, her voice a complement to the groove, especially on the roasting last track, "Jive Talk."

I love live albums, especially live fusion, and even more if it's Brazilian and from the early 70s. Purim's "500 Miles High" fits the bill. It also benefits from a highly percussive sound and the use of berimbaus, a uniquely Brazilian instrument (it looks like a bow and arrow) used in the Afro-Brazilian martial art, capoeira.

I REMEMBER HAVING THIS ALBUM ON LP BACK IN THE 1970'S. I AM GLAD I HAVE IT ON CD NOW, IT IS A BLAST FROM THE PAST. FLORA PURIM IS AN ACQUIRED TASTE. SHE HAS A FIVE OCTAVE RANGE, AND IMPROVISES A LOT IN HER SINGING. WITH SOME OF THE OTHER MUSICINS ON THIS RELEASE, (HER HUSBAND), AIRTO MOREIRA, RON CARTER ON BASS, MILTON NASCIMENTO (ANOTHER BRAZILIAN NATIONAL TRASUE), THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS PUT OUT BY FLORA PURIM FROM THAT TIME. WE USED TO CALL THIS STUFF JAZZ FUSION MUSIC, AND THIS HAS A LATIN TINGE TO IT AS WELL.

Butterfly Dreams is by a far a superior CD to this.

'O Cantador', however, is among the greatest recordings that Flora (or Airto, Ron Carter, etc) has ever made (equal to the original Return to Forever cuts, in my opinion).

'O Cantador' rates a 10 stars (out of 10)
Uri rates a 5 and everything else on this CD is 4 or less.

I saw him @ Catalina's in H'wood. It was magnificent. Purim soars on this live recording. The Fender Rhodes is a wonderful compliment to her unique vocals.