1976 · Album
Open Your Eyes You Can Fly
Recorded 1976 · Paramount Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California · Milestone Records
Flora Purim Spreads Her Wings in Los Angeles
Purim surrounds herself with some of the finest Brazilian and American musicians of the era, creating something genuinely expansive.
By 1976, Flora Purim had already established herself as a singular voice in jazz—rhythmically daring, vocally precise, unafraid to blend samba, funk, and straight-ahead jazz in the same breath. Open Your Eyes You Can Fly arrived as her fifth solo album and showed a musician working at the height of her powers, surrounded by a constellation of top-tier players. George Duke on keyboards, Egberto Gismonli and David Amaro on guitars, Hermeto Pascoal on flute, and her husband Airto Moreira on percussion created an ensemble that could shift from tight groove to open exploration without breaking stride. AllMusic gave it four stars, recognizing the album as a strong entry in Purim's catalog.
The sessions at Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles captured something unforced. Purim's approach here balances showiness with real listening—she sings lead on tracks where it makes sense and steps back to let the band breathe. The rhythm section, anchored by Ron Carter and Alphonso Johnson on bass with Leon Ndugu Chancler and Robertinho Silva on drums, provides the kind of supple foundation that lets everyone else play freely. There's no strain in the arrangements, no sense of too many voices competing for space.
This is not a landmark record that changed jazz or influenced a generation of musicians. What it is: a well-recorded, thoroughly enjoyable session where a great singer and a great band trust each other enough to take their time. Worth hearing if you know Purim's earlier work and want to see where she landed in the mid-seventies, or if you simply like the sound of excellent musicians playing together at a moment when Brazilian jazz was beginning to scatter in different directions.
Who's playing
Alphonso Johnsonbass
Ron Carterdouble bass
George Dukeelectric piano
David Amaroelectric guitar
Egberto Gismontiacoustic guitar
Hermeto Pascoalflute
Leon Ndugu Chanclerdrums
Roberto Silvadrums
Airto Moreirapercussion
Laudir de Oliveiracongas
Where next?
More by Flora Purim
All 27 albums →
The musicians on this record
The Aura Will Prevail 1975
George Duke
plays electric piano here
plays electric piano here
Blues Farm 1973
Ron Carter
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
♫
Virgin Land 1974
Airto Moreira
plays percussion here
plays percussion here
