Customer Reviews

Light As a Feather

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1973, Chick Corea recorded Light As a Feather with his band Return to Forever, and it had a great impact in the jazz world. Chick at this time was experimenting with Latin rhythms and themes, particularly those of Brazil. His Brazilian emphasis is helped by Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim and noted Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. His samba-like rhythms are pervasive throughout the whole album, and that is one of the many things that makes this album great. Another reason is this had a great impact on the fusion movement, with Chick on the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano and fusion bassist Stanley Clarke.
"You're Everything" starts off the album impressively, featuring a rubatto introduction with Flora Purim. Her vocals on this intro are annoying at times; I wish she would sing in Portuguese because her strong accent is distracting. But, the band strongly kicks in afterwards with a samba rhythm that gets the album off the ground. There isn't any soloing on this track (it's only 5 minutes long), but it's an awesome introduction to the album.
Every other track on this album is killer. "Light As a Feather" is an calming melody that goes into double-time for amazing solos by Chick, Joe Farrell, and Stanley Clarke. The instrumental "Captain Marvel" is one of my favorites; the melody is extremely catchy, the uptempo samba rhythm really works out, and the solos are incredible. "500 Miles High" is another great performance here, with Flora Purim at her best. The melody is also beautiful, and Chick delivers a great solo. An interesting part here is "Children's Song". Chick later had a whole cycle of these. There is no improvisation; it is a great composition; very reminiscent of the legendary composer Bartok.
The album finishes with Corea's most famous and maybe on of his best compositions "Spain". He gives a slow introduction, but then he kicks in with a beautiful and pulsating melody. The solos here are also incredbile, Farrell and Chick give their best solos throughout the album. Stanley Clarke's solo is also incredible, but he is best on "500 Miles High".
I would recommend this to all jazz fans who are interested in either Chick Corea, samba, or fusion. The whole album is awesome, the songs are accessible, and the soloing is superb. Bottom line: It's a great album to pick up.

I totally agree with the previous review; it is indeed a "breath of fresh air" in a era where jazz musicians--including Corea just a few years later--sometimes sacrificed emotion for pure technique. Very easy to listen to and yet there is some very good playing from every musician involved. Airto has a very unique approach to the drum kit, and Flora Purim's voice sounds steady and as smooth as silk. This record is also a reminder of what a great loss Joe Farrell's passing was to all jazz fans. Clarke wisely keeps himself in check here, but of course, that wouldn't last.

The strongest aspect of this record, however, is Chick's compositions. They are all light, joyful, and intelligent. "Spain" can be found in every jazz fake book.

Easily the best jazz album recorded in 1972, and one of the best of all time.

Light as A Feather, Chick Corea and Return To Forever's 1972 release, is full of beutiful melodies and intense playing. This album is essenial in the always expanding catalogue of Chick Corea. Some of the reviews said that the music sounds too pop or sugar coated. This may be true, but the songs are all incredibly beautiful. The three songs featuring vocalist Flora Purim, Light As A Feather, You're Everything and 500 Miles High are all very mellow and beautiful, with great playing by Corea. The songs are all delivered with perfection and grace. The other three songs on the album are instrumentals. The weakest of these is Children's Song, which is very beautiful, but is too short and uneventful. The other two, however, are the highlights of the album. The incredible Captain Marvel is almost a classic. It contains some incredible playing by all the musicians, which is almost hidden under the beautiful melodies. The highlight of the album is the incredible Spain, which has now become a classic. It is possibly the best composition of Corea's long, brilliant career. Light As a Feather is an essential and beautiful album.

The first time I ever heard this album was in 1976 or so, when I listened to it in a college library listening room in Cortland, NY. The first cut on the album (yes, it was vinyl) was, of course, "You're Everything", and I was beside myself. I think I must have listened to that song about 10 times in a row. I was instantly a major Chick Corea fan, and saw him with Return to Forever in a small on-campus concert. A lot of his other stuff was very appealing to me at the time (late teens early twenties), along with Stanley Clark and Al and Lenny. I will say that I have since fallen a little out of love with much of his music, with the exception of "Inner Space" which has some true straight-ahead jazz in the best tradition of the late sixties, long before we ever dreamed of an abomination like Kenny G. These two albums are as different as night and day, with "Inner Space" being an edgier, exploratory cascade of brass, (some gorgeous flute with Hubert Laws in "Windows"), drums and piano, and "Light as a Feather" being a much more accessible and lighter jazz celebration with the smooth airy tones of Flora Purim, and some fun songs like "Spain" and "Children's Song". If you like Charles Mingus and Bilham Cobly (Billy Cobham) you'll like "Inner Space", but I recommend both albums.

As fresh today as when released. Creative, tasteful improv that avoids some of the excess of later work.

This album is in a class by itself. I don't hand out the "Best" judgement lightly. The musicians have to be spectacular, the music has to be exciting, and there are NO weak parts to the album. NONE. Every song is a gem, every musician is clear and articulate. I have to tell you that "Musicmagic" also fits into the "BEST" catagory too.

Stan Getz was so impressed by this and the "Return to Forever" album that his Captain Marvel album contains 3 cuts from the 2 albums, and features Chick Corea on electric piano, Stanley Clarke on electric bass, Airto Moreira on percussion. Quite honestly, I've listened to this album so much that I am sick of it. (I have it in vinyl from the 70's.)

Nowdays I am returning to my roots and have found other musicians good enough to play this stuff, and I am in hog heaven!

I think I can safely say that non-musicians will really enjoy this album, musicians will be blown away!

Got to agree with everyone here that this is a very very special album. It's hard to believe also this music was made by a quartet featuring such musical heavyweights as Stanley Clarke,Airto and Flora Purim. One of the things that makes this album so wonderful is,that while their are more than one tune here that could be singled out as especially excellent this is an album that is sort of a hidden suite;each song flows into the other with musical ideas extending strongly into the other. Joe Farrell is particularly energetic throughout,building carefully in romantic intensity along with the rest of the music. And romantically energetic is exactly the word I'd use to describe this album: between the lovely and picturesque Brazillian style poetry sung by Flora on "You're My Everything" and the majesty of "500 Miles High" this is an incredible album where the parts are important but again serve to add to the whole. Stanley Clarke is not as noticable on this edition of Return To Forever because he's primarily vamping on acoustic bass here and doesn't take all that many significant solo spots on this album. That is sort of the point;much as with Return to Forever this album is all about collective improvisation in the context of a breezy style of electric Brazillian fusion and here the band do that even more so than before. It's a little sad that this particular version of Return To Forever didn't produce anymore music in the studio. A year after this came out the band changed hands and released Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy,beginning a string of albums that had a completely different and often harsher sound than what was to be found here. Sure change can be a very good thing but sometimes what you started out with just doesn't go much further than the kickoff before it can really get going to it's peak. And that in a word is what kind of happened here. The bands rather abrupt change in direction,while I like both versions of RTF,took just a bit of focus of the dreamy and romantic flavors featured on albums like this and went more for the sound of different virtuoso's soloing in,over and around eachother. Great album and paints a very compelling musical picture.

This is Chick Corea's best. It's got it all. The flute and tenor work by Joe Farrell is exceptional - will live forever. That man died too young.

For shear jazz pleasure, this 1973 album is hard to beat. Compared to the post-bop/hard bop of the 1960s and the fusion of the early 1970s, it may seem a bit light-weight. However, the compositions are enormously appealing and the playing first-rate. Although perhaps not a jazz masterpiece, I think it's pretty darn close, and it still sounds remarkably fresh today. This was one of the first jazz albums I enjoyed (back in the 70s), and although my music collection has grown exponentially in recent years, I still find myself returning to it frequently. The infectious melodies and rhythms never fail to brighten the mood (and can be almost addictive!) I noticed that one reviewer suggested that this was a precursor to smooth jazz--I find that a stretch, but even if true, I find this album so, so, SO much better than most of today's smooth jazz. Several reviewers don't like Flora Purim's singing on this album--I absolutely love her voice and the way she blends with the instruments on these tracks. If for any reason you've avoided this album in the past (or if you're new to jazz) I'd highly recommend you give it a try. This group made one other album, simply called RETURN TO FOREVER, which is also very good. However, I've always found LIGHT AS A FEATHER a little more enjoyable; it's also more accessible for someone new to jazz.

this is a brilliant album any way you look at it. even though, in my opinion, flora purim's performance is a little excessive at times, the rest of the band plays with such skill, taste, and intensity that this is still a nearly perfect work. Joe farell's supernatural use of the flute and sax steals the show.