Led Zeppelin - 1975 - Flying Circus

Led Zeppelin
February 12, 1975
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY

Flying Circus - 40th Anniversary Edition 9CD Box

EVSD - Audience and Soundboard Matrix

01. Rock And Roll
02. Sick Again
03. Over The Hills And Far Away
04. In My Time Of Dying
05. The Song Remains The Same
06. The Rain Song
07. Kashmir
08. No Quarter
09. Trampled Under Foot
10. Moby Dick
11. Dazed And Confused
12. Stairway To Heaven
13. Whole Lotta Love
14. Black Dog
15. Heartbreaker

Led Zeppelin’s February 12th Madison Square Garden show is among the most famous shows the band every gave. This is due to its long history of unofficial releases dating back to the days of vinyl using one of the all time best audience recordings ever to surface. The soundboard recording surfaced in 2002 several months after the release of the complete Earls Court boxset which had a previously unknown soundboard tape for the final night.

When Flying Circus (Empress Valley EVSD-185/186/187) was released, it was the first complete soundboard to surface for the American tour that year and caused considerable excitement. In contrast to the dry soundboards from the 1973 tour this had the depth and balance of an official release and many speculated this was a final mix by Eddie Kramer. In the subsequent years soundboards have surfaced for both Dallas shows, St. Louis, San Diego and Vancouver.

Considering the slow start of the tour, this is one of their best performances. Plant’s voice sounds good and Page is on too. The band’s introduction is cut and the tape picks up with the opening “Rock And Roll” and “Sick Again.”

“We came four blocks in the snow to get here you realize that? People were calling me up on the telephone today saying, ‘is it gonna be on, is it gonna be on?’ For a minute I wondered about my anatomy and then I realized there is some discrepancy about the weather. Isn’t it good it snows? Doesn’t it change the vibe of the city?” “Over The Hills And Far Away” is dedicated to the “keeper of the seasons, whoever and where ever he may be.” Great version of the difficult track and Jimmy Page duel with John Bonham in the middle of the solo.

Before “In My Time Of Dying” Plant again becomes very loquacious, saying: “This is what we would consider to be the last of the New York concerts. We got the Nassau County ones but we’ve always really dug playing in the Garden. So tonight we’re gonna have a really ecstatic one. This is codependent on two things: us and you. I’m in the mood to do a lot of talking but that’s not what it’s all about. We have a new album coming out shortly called Physical Graffiti. The likes of which we left in California.”

Page’s slide is devestating and afterwards Plant speaks in admiration of the piece by saying, “Ironically that’s what one might call an old folk standard. They become folk songs when nobody writes the music to them anymore and are passed on by memory. Can you imagine ‘Whole Lotta Love’ ending up like that?”

“The Song Remains The Same” and “The Rain Song” follow next. It is interesting that, despite Plant’s nightly announcement that they plan to play a cross section of all their material, the middle ninety minutes of the concert (from “Sick Again” to “Trampled Under Foot”) come from either Houses Of The Holy and Physical Graffiti.

There is a short delay after “The Rain Song” where Plant says, “It says: happy birthday, Abe. Sorry about that small intermission. This is a track from Physical Graffiti which once again takes the vibe of travel and experience and flashes of environments like the one we’re getting right now. This one is called ‘Kashmir.'”

The first very long epic of the night is “No Quarter.” Reaching twenty minutes, the versions on the first leg of the tour are long variants of those found on the previous tour with Jones remaining on the organ throughout the song’s duration. Later on he would introduce the grand piano changing the nature of the piece.

Plant introduces Jones by saying, “The next track features the impeccably clean fingernails of John Paul Jones. The man who make Monty Python’s Flying Circus a flop in New York. This is again about a journey…we never seem to get off of them.” At thirteen minutes Jones and Page get messed up and wind up playing in different keys making it sound horrible. After “Trampled Under Foot” they play the second epic of the night, a very long version of “Moby Dick.”

“Dazed And Confused” goes back to their “immaculate conception…referring to Jimmy, of course.” The band play a rare (for this tour) version of “Walter’s Walk” during the long improvisation. The band play a few bars of “Whole Lotta Love” as an introduction to “Black Dog.” They reward the audience with the second encore of “Heartbreaker.”

The band get into Elvis’ “That’s Alright” in the middle of the solo. Overall this is a very joyous experience which, despite the long epics, seems to fly by. This is a concert that is worth having in both the excellent audience and excellent soundboard recordings.

Lloyd McNeill - 1980 - Elegia

Lloyd McNeill

1980

Elegia

01. Samba For The Animals 7:41

02. Behind The Wind [Flute Solo] 2:24

03. Asha II 11:24

04. Elegiac Suite For Elizabeth 12:43

    4.1. Time

    4.2. The Mighty River

    4.3. The Wind

05. Striped Pants [With Cadenza] 3:18

06. Memory Cycle 7:40

Acoustic Guitar – Claudio Celso

Bass – Cecil McBee

Drums [Samba Only] – Portinho

Flute, Alto Flute – Lloyd Mc Neill

Percussion – Portinho (tracks: 5)

Percussion, Vocals – Naná Vasconcelos

Piano – Dom Salvador

Vocals – Susan Osborn

Recorded Dec., 13, 1979 at Right Track Recording, Studios NYC

I bought this in a record store without knowing anything about it because I misread the album credits and thought that the bassist was the great pianist Cecil Taylor - very happy to have made that mistake. Lloyd McNeill is a gifted flutist and assembles a great cast of players here, with this album occupying a space between jazz fusion and Latin jazz.

"Samba for the Animals" is a wonderful introduction into McNeill's playing, who manages to lead a group in a way that I've never heard another flutist do. Highly rhythmic and a stellar groove, his voicings are very sharp. From there he goes into the sprawling "Asha II" and "Elegiac Suite for Elizabeth", an ethereal track featuring Susan Osborn on vocals - early in the suite it almost sounds like a minimalist piece before settling into a Latin/fusion groove. The shorter tracks here ("Behind the Wind", "Striped Pants (With Cadenza)") are great as well, with the former being a very evocative solo piece while the latter almost functions as a release of tension before the final track. "Memory Cycle" is an intense closer that creates a haunting atmosphere without dissonance or harshness, rather with Cecil McBee's kinetic bass lines and Dom Salvador's meandering piano. Beautiful end to a beautiful record.

This is a great, very soulful jazz release and a must listen for any jazz fusion fans. Lloyd McNeill is also a gifted visual artist, having befriended Pablo Picasso and had his work displayed in numerous museums across the country. Here, his flute is his brush

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 too many albums as out of time as Elegia was in 1980.

Lloyd McNeill - 1976 - Treasures

Lloyd McNeill

1976

Treasures

01. Griot 16:50

02. As A Matter Of Fact 5:48

03. Salvation Army 11:16

04. You Don't Know What Love Is 10:15

Bass – Cecil McBee

Drums – Brian Brake, Portinho

Flute – Lloyd McNeill

Percussion – Ray Armando

Piano – Dom Salvador

Without a doubt, the last decade of record collecting’s surge into the popular consciousness has (finally) brought about the recognition of underappreciated Jazz Geniuses. Voracious suppliers of organic cosmic sounds – acclaim well overdue for their accomplishments – have been brought into the mainstream. The list is expansive and branches through various movements and stylistic impressions. Luckily, one of the many names brought to light was Lloyd McNeill. Born in Washington, DC in 1935, the flutist, composer, and painter has passed away at the age of 86.

McNeill was a mainstay of the more liberating side of the jazz spectrum from the late-sixties on. With limited sideman work for a comparative basis, listeners were introduced to McNeill’s recorded work as a leader–granting an unshrouded interpretation into the artist’s expansive worldview. His handful of LPs present compositions unrestrained by the at-times-paradoxical impression that Free Music must be totally lacking of structure, key, or syncopation. McNeill-led ensembles – locked into unfathomable funk – explored every melodic direction a tune could take, keeping the listener moving the entire time. A blissful menagerie of motorik and modulation.

McNeill’s Treasures (1976) remains the most comprehensive in displaying the merits of his artistic genius. As a painter (well-respected by friend Pablo Picasso, mind you) McNeill draws in the record’s holder with gorgeous abstractions of the recruited ensemble: Cecil McBee, Dom Salvador, Ray Armando, Portinho, Brian Brake. Alongside, a full body portrait of the artist gives the impression that McNeill was quite-possibly the coolest guy you’d ever meet. Such distinctive design only bolsters the wholly original contents of the LP’s grooves. The mind expanding “Griot” is a 17-minute epic that runs the gambit from deep spiritual heaviness to triumphant fanfare to a sure-strutted swagger that dances the listener into the blues-y shuffle of “As a Matter of Fact.” For the uninitiated and familiar alike, however, side two’s “Salvation Army” should be thrown on in memory of McNeill. A brilliant and bouncy affair, the group burrows into a victorious march with a groove that refuses to stop. The perfect celebration of the immense talent and vision that is Lloyd McNeill.

Originally released on the artists’ own private press Baobab label in New York, the album is a serious collectors’ piece, a heavyweight and fascinating fusion of deep spiritual jazz with Brazilian and rhythms and melodies. The album has been out of print for nearly 40 years. 

This groundbreaking album is the culmination of Lloyd McNeill’s many years involved with Brazilian musicians and features the great percussionist Nana Vasconcelos alongside fellow Brazilian’s Portinho and Dom Salvador alongside US jazz musicians including bassist Cecil McBee.

McNeill grew up during the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and his life and work is a reflection of those ideals. All of his music was only ever released on his own private-press record label, echoing the Civil Rights and African-American themes of the era - black economic empowerment and self-sufficiency – and there is a beautiful spirituality in all his music.

In the late 1960s McNeill became teacher of both jazz and painting at the New Thing Art and Architecture Center in Washington and in 1969 was the first African-American professor hired to teach African-American Music History, at Rutgers University.

Lloyd McNeill Quartet - 1970 - Washington Suite

Lloyd McNeill Quartet

1970 

Washington Suite

01. Home Rule 6:03

02. Just 71% Moor 8:21

03. 2504 Cliffborne Pl. 5:57

04. Fountain In The Circle 2:21

05. City Tryptych 16:32

06. Fountain In The Circle 1:42

Bass – Marshall Hawkins

Bassoon – Kenneth Pasmanick

Clarinet – William Huntington

Drums – Eric Gravatt

Electric Piano – Gene Rush

Flute – Lloyd McNeill

French Horn – Orrin Olson

Oboe – Andrew White

Music composed for the Capital Ballet Company, Wash., DC.

Recorded March 22, 1970 at the National Collection of Fine Arts and March 31, at Workshop-Corcoran.

Sometimes you hear a flute used in a composition and immediately your shoulders jump up to cover your ears. It comes off as a cosmetic afterthought that bears no sustenance. NOBODY got time for that!

Lloyd McNeill does it differently. The professor, painter and world-renowned jazz-flutist formed an “enlightened quartet” around 1970 that was in tune with the political climate of the time and reflected the sonic components which were influencing Alice Coltrane, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and electric Miles Davis. Essentially classical music, dance, gospel, funk, soul, and blues. Similar to the contemporary ways that hip-hop, house, disco, boogie and techno keep merging and morphing into new forms. Charting new algorithms.

When you hear McNeill, who studied music theory and flute technique with Eric Dolphy, delivering his statement via flute on the iconic “Home Rule”, he’s got some girth, weight, and purpose behind it. Working within the determined groove extolled from Marshall Hawkins’ bass, Robert Gravatt’s drums and the electric piano magic by Eugene Rush. While the tone is somewhat celebratory it still casts off an air of perseverance through adversity.

“Washington Suite”, which is being re-issued by Soul Jazz Records, was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington, DC. The illusory veneer of “2504 Cliffbourne Pl.” and the magisterial 16 minute “City Triptych” displays McNeill’s compositional aptitude. Yet it’s the ever-present rhythmic indentation of “Just 71% Moor” and “Home Rule” that has kept this record on playlists from the downtempo/acid jazz moments of the early 1990’s to the present.

Very nice, tasteful playing by all involved. It isn't really much of a super virtuosic album, or at least they don't seem overly inclined to show it off too much, but with this sort of sound, I prefer that. A lot of it seems to be about the groove to me and I'm all for it because they lay out some pretty nice ones. If anything, maybe some of the tracks linger a little too long and as good as these grooves are, I sometimes wish there was just one step up they could've taken it before going back to the theme, but this is overall a very pleasant listen that'll put you in a good mood.

Lloyd McNeill & Marshall Hawkins - 1969 - Tanner Suite

Lloyd McNeill & Marshall Hawkins

1969

Tanner Suite

01. Black Expatriate 11:20

02. Tanner Blue 9:50

03. Daniel In The Lion's Den 10:43

04. The Banjo Lesson 10:47

Tribute to African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner at the Smithsonian National Gallery Of Art.

Improvised and recorded in the galleries of the National Collection of Fine Arts, at the Tanner Exhibition, July 20, 1969.

Bass – Marshall Hawkins

Flute – Lloyd McNeill

"Lloyd McNeill is a multidisciplinary artist – a painter who lived in Paris in 1965 and was a friend of Picasso, a musician who has worked with Nina Simone, Nana Vasconceles, Ron Carter, Cecil McBee and many more and a music anthropologist, poet and teacher. In the 1960s he was involved in the civil-rights movement and produced music for ballet, paintings and installations. His music mixes jazz with Latin, Brazilian and African rhythms that McNeill learnt was studying anthropology in his travels through much of Africa and Brazil (where he joined with Dom Salvador, Paulinho da Viola, Paulo Maura and Martinho da Vila)."---Souljazz Records

Transcendent 70's spritual jazz delicacy. Flautist Lloyd McNeill & bassist Marshall Hawkins offer their improvised musical tribute to African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner at the Smithsonian National Gallery Of Art on July 20th, 1969. Released in a mono edition of 1000 on McNeill's own private imprint, Asha Records, of Washington DC. The mighty Souljazz Records just gave its welcome treatment to Asha #1. 

Tanner Suite is one of the most beautiful and by far the rarest of all of McNeill’s records, a unique piece of music especially commissioned by the Smithsonian National Gallery Of Art in the late 1960s to accompany an exhibition of the work of Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first African-American painter ever to gain international success.

Tanner Suite was originally released in 1969 as a private individually numbered pressing of 1000 copies on McNeill’s own Asha Record company and has never been issued since. Soul Jazz Records new pressing of this album is also limited to 1000 copies each on vinyl and CD. Both editions come in heavyweight exact-replica hard tip-on USA card sleeve original artwork.

This beautiful and intense set of pieces based around improvisation was the soundscape to the significant exhibition of Tanner's work, created at an important point in post-civil rights African-American self-definition. The music is both profound and spiritual.

Lloyd McNeill Quartet - 1969 - Asha

Lloyd McNeill Quartet

1969

Asha

01. Asha 8:45

02. As A Matter Of Fact 4:53

03. Two-Third's Pleasure 5:53

04. Dig Where Dat's At! 3:27

05. St. Margaret's Church 6:50

06. Effervescence 6:51

07. Warmth Of A Sunny Day 10:22

Bass – Steve Novosel

Percussion – Eric Gravatt

Percussion – Paul Hawkins

Piano – Gene Rush 

Flute – Lloyd McNeill

Lloyd McNeill is a composer, flutist, poet, photographer, teacher, and globally celebrated visual artist. He is regarded by jazz musicians as an innovator on his chosen instrument. Between 1969 and 1978, he self-released several albums --including 1969's Asha, 1970's Washington Suite, 1976's Treasures, and 1978's Tori -- that are considered classics by improvising musicians as well as critics for their innovative meld of vanguard and spiritual jazz, folk, blues, free improv, and modernist classical technique. They are considered classics by musicians and many critics for their innovative meld of vanguard and spiritual jazz, folk, blues, free improv, and modernist classical technique. McNeill's last recorded outing was 1998's X.Tem.Por.E, in collaboration with pianist Richard Kimball. McNeill is also a prolific, internationally renowned painter and visual artist; his work has been exhibited from Paris and New York to Tokyo, Madrid, and Rio. His first five recordings have been remastered and reissued by the U.K.'s Soul Jazz/Universal Sound label.

McNeill was born in Washington, D.C., in 1935. He studied music at Dunbar High School before joining the U.S Navy, where he served as a hospital corpsman. Upon discharge he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta and majored in art. He also played music there -- conga drum, notably, though he was already a proficient flutist. He worked with the Lloyd Terry Band, Nina Simone, and Lionel Hampton. McNeill graduated from Morehouse in 1961, and his senior exhibit drew the attention of James A. Porter, chairman of the art department at Howard University. Porter offered him a full-tuition scholarship, and McNeill became the school's first MFA student. While at Howard, he studied everything from fresco painting and line drawing to easel painting. In addition to visual art, he undertook advanced flute studies with Eric Dolphy in 1963 during a year at Dartmouth as artist in residence.

McNeill moved to Paris in 1964 with saxophonist Andrew White, a Howard classmate and close friend. He played flute in a variety of settings, and studied at Paris' L'École Nationale des Beaux Arts. While living there, he met and became close with Pablo Picasso and his wife Jacqueline until their respective deaths. He also found time to play music, though mostly in Cannes, collaborating with Guatemalan guitarist and singer/songwriter Julio Arenas Menas.

In 1976, he formed the Baobab Sounds label to release Treasures. His sextet included McBee, Ray Armando, Dom Salvador, Brian Brake, and Porthino. He was also recruited by organist Charles Earland to play on his 1976 album The Great Pyramid and Brazilian saxophonist Paulo Moura's Confusão Urbana, Suburbana E Rural.

Having studied Art and Zoology in Morehouse College, Atlanta, he moved on to be the first recipient of Howard University's MFA degree (1963). In 1964-5, he did further study in Lithography at Paris' L'Ecole Nationale Des Beaux Arts. During his residence in France, he spent a considerable amount of time with Pablo Picasso and his wife, Jacqueline in Cannes. He has also studied music composition privately with the composer Hale Smith, music theory and flute technique with the jazz musician Eric Dolphy, and classical flute technique and repertoire with Harold Jones. McNeill taught at several institutes of higher education, and was Professor Emeritus of Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University, New Jersey, having retired in 2001. Through the 1970s, and in addition to his position in Art, McNeill also taught Afro-American Music History, private flute lessons, and was instrumental in launching the Jazz Studies Program at Rutgers University.

McNeill has exhibited his paintings and drawings at several galleries and colleges in the U.S. Northeast. He published two volumes of poems: Blackline: A Collection of Poems, Drawings and Photographs and After the Rain: A Collection of New Poems. In 2007, Lloyd McNeill was chosen by the USPS to design a postage stamp for the celebration of Kwanzaa 2009

Leo Wright - 1963 - Soul Talk

Leo Wright

1963

Soul Talk

01. State Trooper 2:38

02. Blue Leo 4:43

03. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 4:29

04. Soul Talk 5:22

05. Poopsie's Minor 4:46

06. Skylark 5:20

07. Blues Fanfare 6:28

Leo Wright - alto saxophone, flute

Gloria Coleman - organ

Kenny Burrell - guitar

Frankie Dunlop - drums

Wright assembled a high quality outfit consisting of Frankie Dunlop – at the time Thelonious Monk’s (already longtime) associate – Kenny Burrell and Gloria Coleman. (then wife of tenor saxophonist George Coleman, who in 1963 was with Miles Davis.) Miss Coleman’s seductive, understated play is in keeping with her Hammond B3’s crisp sound.

Leo Wright’s flute play on Soul Talk reminds us of the flute chair he held in Dizzy Gillespie’s top bands from 1959 to 1963, a stint Wright not surprisingly is best known for.

Soul Talk was released on Atlantic subsidiary Vortex in 1970. It’s part of its 2000 series and the odd one out in a series of ‘out there’ albums from among others Joe Zawinul, Steve Marcus and Sonny Sharrock. Actually, its session date has been a question mark among cogniscenti for some time, yet it’s highly unlikely that it doesn’t stem from 1963. That year also saw Leo Wright joining Gloria Coleman, drummer Pola Roberts and guitarist Grant Green on the Impulse release Soul Sisters. In fact, that group played the East Coast and had a regular gig at Branker’s in upper Harlem, New York City. (Wright stepped in with his alto sax whenever Grant Green was unavailable)

Joe Goldberg’s liner notes conclude with the hope that Wright’s group would make another album. Unfortunately, they didn’t. At the end of 1963 Leo Wright migrated to Europe.

A rare soul jazz session from alto saxophonist Leo Wright – a player that we mostly know from his bossa work of the early 60s! The session's extremely noteworthy as being one of the few to feature female organist Gloria Coleman – a player with whom Wright worked on her classic 1963 date Soul Sisters, and who returns here in a very similar hard-wailing sax-and-organ mode! Wright's work on alto is incredibly deep – with a sharper bite than much of his other 60s sessions, and a gutsy down-n-dirty quality that makes the record feel like one of the best organ jazz albums at the time from Prestige. Coleman's approach to the Hammond is great too – freely skipping around with a liberated sense of rhythm, in a way that matches Wright's every twist and turn with ease – and throws a few of its own into the mix as well! The group's completed by Kenny Burrell on guitar (also sounding harder here than usual!) and Frankie Dunlop on drums.

Leo Wright - 1962 - Suddenly the Blues

Leo Wright

1962

Suddenly the Blues

01. A Felicidad 2:37

02. Greensleeves 2:45

03. Gensel's Message 4:10

04. The Wiggler 2:55

05. Tali 4:44

06. Dionysos 3:07

07. Sassy Lady 4:24

08. Willow Weep For Me 4:21

09. Suddenly The Blues 5:07

Leo Wright - alto saxophone, flute

Kenny Burrell - guitar

Ron Carter - bass

Rudy Collins - drums

A record of incredible beauty from the great Leo Wright -- and one that we'd never part with at all! Wright's one of those excellent players from the 60s who never really gets his due -- largely because he was always hiding behind larger groups, and because he left the US in the decade for an extended stint in Europe. Still he cut some fantastic early work with both Dizzy Gillespie and Lalo Schifrin -- and this album captures him right during the peak of that early period!

Leo Wright - 1960 - Blues Shout

Leo Wright

1960

Blues Shout

01. Sigi (Wright) - 3:27

02. Angel Eyes (Dennis-Brent) - 5:13

03. Autumn Leaves (Kosma-Prevert-Mercer) - 3:49

04. Indian Summer (Herbert-Dubin) - 7:05

05. Blues Shout (Gryce) - 5:02

06. Night in Tunisia (Gillespie-Paparelli) - 5:26

07. The Wind (Freeman-Gladstone) - 4:43

08. Two Moods (Wright) - 5 :49

Leo Wright - flute (#1-4), alto saxophone (#5-8)

Richard Williams - trumpet (#5-8)

Harry Lookofsky - violin (#1,2,4)

Junior Mance - piano

Art Davis - bass

Charlie Persip-drums

Recorded in New York on May 25 (#5-8) and August 29 (#1-4), 1960.

A first-rate bop-oriented alto saxophonist, Wright was also one of the finest flutists jazz has known. He studied saxophone under the tutelage of his father. His first recording was made in 1958 with vibist Dave Pike; the next year, he played the Newport Festival with bassist Charles Mingus' group. Wright joined Dizzy Gillespie's band in 1959, remaining until 1962. In addition to his sideman work, Wright established himself as a leader in the early '60s, leading New York-based bands that included the likes of bassist Ron Carter, pianist Junior Mance, drummer Charlie Persip, and guitarist Kenny Burrell, among others. In 1960, he recorded the record for which he is perhaps best-known -- Blues Shout for the Atlantic label -- with a group consisting of himself, Mance, Persip, bassist Art Davis, and trumpeter Richard Williams. After leaving Gillespie's band, Wright went on to play and record with pianist/composer Lalo Schifrin and organist Jack McDuff; with the latter he recorded Screamin' for the Prestige label. He also worked with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and singer Jimmy Witherspoon before moving to Europe later in the decade. There he worked with pianist/composer George Gruntz and he also played with saxophonist Lee Konitz in an all-star group called Alto Summit and with trumpeter Carmell Jones. Wright eventually moved to Berlin, where he played in a studio band and worked freelance. In May 1978, Wright co-led a studio session in New York City with pianist Red Garland for Muse Records. He essentially retired from music around 1979, before re-emerging in the mid-'80s. In 1986, Wright played gigs with the Paris Reunion Band, which also included trombonist Grachan Moncur III, cornetist Nat Adderley, and pianist Kenny Drew Sr. In the years before his death, Wright worked and recorded with his wife, singer Elly Wright. His autobiography, God Is My Booking Agent, was published posthumously by Bayou Press in the fall of 1991. His last recording was made with his wife on her CD Listen to My Plea.

Leo Wright's Atlantic debut, Blues Shout, effectively summarizes his career as a sideman, embracing the expressionist sensibilities of longtime boss Dizzy Gillespie as well as the Latin inspirations of longtime bandmate Lalo Schifrin to create a fiercely modern and uncommonly impassioned sound all its own. Joined by pianist Junior Mance, trumpeter Richard Williams, bassist Art Davis, and drummer Charlie Persip, Wright divides his attention between his signature alto sax and flute, delivering a series of thoughtful and lyrical solos that positively radiate energy. The blues referenced in the title are more a feeling than a sound, underscoring the emotional intensity that bristles below the surface of every note.