Customer Reviews

Encounter

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

 

 

This was the first Flora album I bought,and I haven't been the same since.The first time I listened to it,I didn't know what the heck was going on,it was a strange ENCOUNTER indeed!
I'm telling you,you haven't lived until you heard this album,especially the title track.Along with the awesome,interplanetary vocals of Ms.Purim,you have some of the most gifted musicians playing on this,including bassist extraordinare,Ron Carter.
Don't you dare miss out!

Flora Purim

One of my all time favorite female vocalists....A fan since I first heard her with "Return To Forever"....Her enchanting and often melodic voice is soothing to the soul....Flora will take me to places I could only dream of....When you hear her voice she'll transport you from Earth to the stars and beyond....In my book, She easily earns five stars....

When it comes to the musicians, the deck is stacked heavily in your favor....They are all extremely talented professionals who could easily have their own bands if they do not already....

red

In the mid-1970s, Flora Purim became the Queen of Fusion Jazz. She, along with Urszula Dudziak, were the major jazz vocalists to embrace new sounds and ways of thinking. Flora's albums "Open Your Eyes You Can Fly" and "That's What She Said" showed that creative vocals had a place within the mostly instrumental genre of fusion. Recorded and released between those two fusion masterpieces in 1976, however, is "Encounter", which was a very mellow, very jazzy album that isn't going to excite too many fusion-heads.

Despite that, the quality of this album is undeniable, and represents a big leap from her earlier straight-jazz leanings on 1973's "Butterfly Dreams." All of the pieces on offer are well-played, well thought-out, and beautifully sung. The roster of musicians includes first-rate guys like Joe Henderson and McCoy Tyner, as well as dueling vocals with Urszula Dudziak and Googie Coppola on the title track. In fact, the two pieces featuring Tyner (including a duet) are some of the most unusual work that either McCoy or Flora have done. And Henderson's solos are just as lush and wonderful as always--did that guy have tone, or what?

The highlight of the album, for me, is a version of Henderson's "Black Narcissus" that I rate considerably higher than the original version on Joe's "Power to the People" album. Flora's take on "Black Narcissus" puts so much into what is already a wonderful composition. Joe himself even puts in a good solo. You should buy the album for this track alone.

I find this to be a great chill-out album when I need to decompress. It doesn't get the blood pumping, but it adds something worthwhile to my life, and what more could one ask?

Length:: 0:46 Mins

I might have been about 17 when I first heard her sexy, lilting vocals. And this was/is one of my all time favorites from her. Simply amazing!

2 1/2

Impressive elements abound with this jazz-fusion vocalist, but rarely does Purim settle on establishing a melody as memorably pretty as the first track, choosing to relish in an artsy spontaneity most of the time instead.

This album lacks the feeling of unity most Flora albums have. Taken individually though, most of the songs are pretty strong. Would that Flora had worked with McCoy more down through the years. Hermeto plays Yamaha electric grand piano. Good riddance to that anomaly of a musical instrument. Yet for some reason, it always sounds appropriate in Brazilian music.