Lloyd McNeill - Tori (US, 1978)

SIDE A 1. O Mercado (Brazilian Market) - 0:00 2. Tori (Segment One) - 4:52 3. Tzigane - 6:30 4. Tori (Segment Two) - 17:31 5. Sambinha - 18:14 SIDE B 1. Time Still / Passaro - Pifano (Flute Bird) - 24:04 2. Tori (Segment Three) - 32:59 3. Tranquil - 34:55 The Musicians Lloyd McNeill - Flute Dom Salvador - Piano Buster Williams - Bass Victor Lewis - Drums Howard Johnson - Tuba Dom Um Romão - Percussion John La Barbera - Acoustic guitar Armaury Tristão - Acoustic guitar Naná Vasconcelos - Percussion, vocals ________________ (latin jazz, brazilian jazz, modal) ________________ previous albums of Lloyd McNeill Asha (1969)    • Lloyd McNeill - Asha (full album)   Tanner Suite (1969)    • Lloyd McNeill / Marshall Hawkins - Tanner ...   Washington Suite (1970)    • Lloyd McNeill - Washington Suite (US, 1970)   Treasures (1976)    • Lloyd McNeill - Treasures (US, 1976)   __________________________ Lloyd McNeill, a jazz flautist, genuine artist and painter, and composer, by 1978, had a much different sound compared to his earliest work. Lloyd McNeill’s music in his earlier years was much more soul, funk, and grounded in traditional jazz, while also being very atmospheric, very spacious and open with its music and the improvisations, and these qualities and ideas from his earlier years would never fade away, but adapt to the different changes McNeill was entering. Throughout the early to mid 70s, specifically 1971-76, McNeill had been taking a myriad of trips to brazil to study Afro-Brazilian music, where he would play with several great brazilian jazz musicians, such as the amazing Paulo Moura, and even Paulinho da Viola, but on his first trip, he would end up meeting the amazing jazz pianist Dom Salvador. Dom Salvador has played with all kinds of musicians from brazil, and eventually the US, forming several great groups such as his popular at the time, “Abolição,” his several trios, his solo albums, and many others collaborations. These two musicians would begin a sort of partnership from then on, with Dom helping McNeill on his several projects down the line, and McNeill would supposedly form a group in 1973 that consisted of these brazilian ties, which featured Dom Salvador himself, the amazing Naná Vasconcelos, Portinho, and several other great musicians, and this is when his sound would become much heavier in the brazilian and latin influence. He would also play on albums with the great Dom Um Romão, a brazilian jazz drummer who, like many other jazz musicians from brazil in the early 70s and late 60s, moved to the US for better opportunities, and was one of several pioneers to spread brazilian music to jazz musicians in the states. The first album to showcase this change was the 1976 album titled Treasures, and was the first album to be released on McNeill’s second independent record label titled “Baobab Records.” Treasures is an album that was still grounded in McNeill’s earlier soulful, bop, funk sound, but also featured that slight brazilian sound, with Side B of that album featuring Salvador’s composition called “Salvation.” But McNeill’s next album would take these influences to a much more noticeable degree, where we get Tori. Tori is McNeill’s second to last solo record he ever recorded, and out of all his albums, this one has the most brazilian, and latin influences of all, featuring many of the brazilian musicians mentioned above such as the great Dom Salvador on piano, Dom Um Romão on percussion, Naná on percussion, and other great american jazz musicians such as the legendary Buster Williams, Victor Lewis, and other great collaborators. This album is filled with many amazing brazilian compositions, which all have this very soulful touch to them, such as the beautiful “Sambinha” and “Tzigane,” and even features music thats comparable to his earlier work, such as the atmospheric “Tranquil,” a very soft and slow composition, reminiscent of Washington Suite. But thankfully, every single album McNeill made as a bandleader has been reissued one way or another by Soul Jazz Records, keeping McNeill’s music, which is certainly not popular, alive and there, for musicians, listeners, or whoever to listen to these jewels without them fading into obscurity.