Expansions

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In October 1986, he moved closer to his musical roots with Make Someone Happy (Doctor Jazz, 1986), an acoustic session that included new recordings of several jazz standards by the trio of Smith, Cecil McBee and Al Foster, produced by Bob Thiele. However, despite critical acclaim for this work, Smith found himself without a recording contract until the turn of the decade, when the small Startrak label released Love Goddess (Startrak, 1990) and Magic Lady (Startrak, 1991). [1] "I had a lot of idealistic concepts about music, and about the spiritual message I was trying to get across. But most record companies only care about demographics and bottom line sales." [ citation needed] Both of the Startrak albums marked an about turn to the smooth jazz mode of the Cosmic Echoes period, Love Goddess featuring vocalist Phyllis Hyman and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Smith's 1973 -1975 Flying Dutchman albums remain his finest work, recorded with ex-Sanders and Davis colleagues including Cecil McBee, whose bass ostinatos are key to the success of Expansions, and percussionists Badal Roy, James Mtume and Lawrence Killian. Recent Cecil Taylor alumnus Andrew Cyrille also figures. Astral Traveling is instrumental; on Cosmic Funk and Expansions, Smith's brother Donald joins the band on flute and vocals.

Fast-forwarding to 2012 and Lonnie Liston Smith’s music still sounds fresh, vibrant and above all, relevant. The fact that many of the songs on this collection have been plundered for samples in the hip-hop era – by Jay-Z, Stetsasonic, Mary J Blige and others – affirms the enduring appeal of his cosmic sounds. Following this stint, Smith moved to Pharoah Sanders' ensemble early in 1968, [1] a group Sanders had set up on the death of John Coltrane the previous year. Fiercely improvisational, Sanders pushed the band creatively to the boundaries of free jazz, recording three of Sanders' finest recordings: Karma ( Impulse, 1969), Jewels of Thought ( Impulse, 1970) and Thembi (Impulse, 1971), together with 1969 recording sessions not released until 1973 as Izipho Zam ( Strata East, 1973). It is at this point that Smith began experimenting with electric keyboards:Lonnie Liston Smith, during an interview for Electronic Standards, starts to write the lyrics of the LP theme and prepare his explanations: Lonnie composed a COSMIC 21st Century 12 bar Blues entitled, “Astral Travelling”, which appeared on Pharaoh’s “Thembi” CD. Lonnie’s compositions for Pharaoh’s other CDs “Upper Egypt”, “Karma”,

Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) [1] is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion, smooth jazz and acid jazz genres. I enjoyed the directness of this at first—piano improvisations striding over solid multi-percussion, in the spirit of Smith's former leader, Gato Barbieri, without the manic harshness. Then I begin to hanker for some harshness. It's not just the strings, which are at least as intelligent as, say, Alice Coltrane's, and less ubiquitous. It's also the rhythms themselves, serving a purpose so expanded and cosmic that it's not even spiritual anymore, thus rendering their connection to the body irrelevant. Note: some of these links confuse Lonnie Smith's work with Lonnie Liston Smith's, and should be used with caution Lonnie’s next 3 jobs were perhaps the most important stepping stones in his career. He got the call from Pharaoh Sanders in 1968 and made his mark in one of the most visible ensembles of the day. Before going solo in the mid-70s, Smith’s CV as a sideman was impressive – he had played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and had productive stints with Miles Davis (he contributed to Miles’ controversial 1972 album “On The Corner”), Gato Barbieri and most significantly of all, Pharoah Sanders. It was playing with Sanders that Smith discovered the electric piano, an instrument that became a crucial component in establishing his trademark sound.The very first time I played the Fender Rhodes piano was on Pharaoh Sanders’ album “Thembi”,” said Smith. “Everything I’d done before then was on acoustic piano. As Pharaoh was opening his case for his horn and everybody was setting up I found this instrument sitting in the corner. I walked over and started messing about with the knobs. All of a sudden I started writing this song – all the musicians ran over and said ‘Man, what is that? We have to play that. What are you going to call it?’ At that time I was studying astral projection and it sounded like I was floating so I said let’s call it ‘Astral Traveling’. And from that I developed a whole new sound on the Fender Rhodes. Everybody fell in love with it.” A similar theme manifested itself on 1976’s ‘Get Down Everybody (It’s Time For World Peace)’, a positive plea for global harmony married to dance floor funk. Other highlights on the new collection showcase the meditative side of Smith’s music, exemplified by the ethereal and otherworldly ‘Meditations’ and ‘In Search Of Truth’ with its exotic mysticism. Pharaoh who had worked with John Coltrane until his death in 1967, was (and still is), an intense creator who was extending the boundaries of improvised music. Lonnie and Pharaoh created spontaneously at every moment. Lonnie, also began to experiment with electric keyboards and created a rich Cosmic sound to support Pharaoh’s impassioned tenor saxophone flights. In May 1967, Smith returned to working with Roland Kirk for the album sessions for Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith (Verve, 1967) before continuing his career as pianist for a year with drummer Max Roach (although once again no recordings were made of this lineup).

These days, books have been supplanted by a phone screen when it comes to Smith’s new sources of discovery. “I’m on TikTok and I’m uncovering so much music,” he says. “I don’t put up any videos but I watch what other people are doing. It’s like what Miles and Pharoah taught me – you have to keep growing and searching for what is new, you can’t just stay in what was. As long as the music comes from your heart, that is what is important.” The following year Smith's brother, Donald, joined the Cosmic Echoes as vocalist for Cosmic Funk (Flying Dutchman, 1974). [1] Although he remained close to his earlier roots with featured versions of Wayne Shorter's " Footprints" and John Coltrane's " Naima" on this album, by now Smith was heading into the smooth jazz funk/fusion style that would dominate his output from here on, with dreamy vocals and long, spacy instrumental passages underlaid by strong funky bass-lines and a distinctive use of light percussion, with a message of peace and tranquillity in both the lyrics and song titles. "I was trying to expand the consciousness of humanity" explained Smith in an interview in 2009. [7]There was a piano in the house and he began investigating it before formal instructions a few years later. It was during high school that Lonnie became infatuated with modern Jazz through hearing alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, one of the creative geniuses in music. It was not long before he was listening to Miles Davis (a future employer) and John Coltrane. Lonnie also began listening to great pianist geniuses, such as: Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Earl “Father” Hines, Erroll Garner and the many other piano geniuses. Years later Lonnie renewed his association with Bob Thiele again, who had a distribution deal with CBS, and once again recorded well received albums, “Silhouettes”, “Rejuvenation”, and “Dreams of Tomorrow”. Also, during this time period, Lonnie discovered a young, 16 year old bassist, Marcus Miller. Lonnie also appeared on the Jazz Explosion All Star Tours with Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Ayers, Jean Carne, Angela Bofil, Stanley Clarke, Gato Barbieri, Tom Brown, Wayne Henderson, Jon Lucien and Ronnie Laws, and kept his audience through incessant roadwork.