Lloyd McNeill - Elegia. 1980 USA-Washington D.C.

This is the last of the 6 album run that Lloyd McNeill started with Asha in 1969. He did not change with the times. Despite being from 1980, it sounds every bit like a jazz record from the 1960s. Few, if any, could put the spirit in spiritual jazz like McNeill. In many cases the term is just a euphemism for free blow. Not with McNeill. All his pieces are highly composed and often times have a groove that just won't quit. One doesn't have to go any further than the opener 'Samba for the Animals' to underscore that latter point. McNeill also recreates his initial signature piece with 'Asha II', one of the most beautiful flute driven jazz pieces one can ever hear. Closer 'Memory Cycle' is another composition in this style of spiritual jazz. The one diversion here is 'Elegiac Suite for Elizabeth', an incredibly powerful track dedicated to the passing of his 80 year old mom Elizabeth B. McNeill. Here, McNeill and his mostly Brazilian backing band are joined by soprano singer Susan Osborn. It's not an easy listen, rather an intense portrayal. It's hard to imagine any album that was as out of time as Elegia was in 1980. This would be the end of the line for McNeill on the release front (for all intents and purposes), but he continued on with all of his artistic pursuits.

Ownership: CD: 2019 Soul Jazz. The CD is superb though the booklet is largely a retelling of Soul Jazz's prior reissues of McNeill's incredibly rich life with a brief summary at the beginning about Elegia. There are no bonus tracks.

12/19/19 (entry)