The water trickles over rocks to open an infinite afternoon of ice drinks melting slowly on our tongues as I return to forever and recall a moment in time when music changed for me for all time. I had been playing folk music, and played with a coupla guys in bars around Monterey, as well as hitting the wharf with our guitar cases open. Three part harmony with songs that were as simple as we were. Jazz was something that belonged to my father’s world. I appreciated it, but did not participate beyond trying to figure out why it was so important that a trumpet player could hit a clear high C. I was trying to understand the dynamics of music on the written page, and considering making a life in music in college when a voice came out of some speakers Light As A Feather. I knew that music learned in college would never produce that sound. So, I went on to study writing and dreaming as I continued playing music with passion. Which turned out to be the best thing because I still play music with passion, but would have made a horrible music teacher. I am an excellent teacher, but my passion in music also leads to impatience with musicians who do not share the passion. I can appreciate and help young writers grow, because I have learned writing as a craft. Music can be a craft, but I am not attracted to that aspect of music. Which brings me full circle to the Butterfly Dreams of Flora Purim. Hearing her passion made me realize that true passion was deeper than any professor could teach, so why bother? I listen to her records often, but have to admit I have not heard her voice on new material for some years. My loss. Her voice is still strong and exudes poetry with splendid ease. “I woke up this way, with a warmth within. Could it be a dream, an illusion, or a heart’s lies?” Café Jobim returns me to reality, with Flora whispering the love of samba flavors in my ear. Largely instrumental, with trumpets seducing the guitar toward the beach, the voices return and make the sand sparkle as the guitarist reaches higher and higher with shred flavored runs that would tear the skin off the fingers off most men. The guitarist here is Lawson Rollins, and let’s just say, this is truly his album. But I do have to thank him deeply for reminding me that Flora is still alive and singing as beautiful as ever. “The pain that opened my heart gave me the strength to find you and ask your forgiveness.” Flora Purim with Lawson Rollins
