Expansions

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Smith recorded ‘Astral Traveling’ with his own band, the Cosmic Echoes, for Flying Dutchman. With its dreamy keyboard passages it’s a key song in Smith’s repertoire and reflects his interest in gaining knowledge and wisdom by exploring religion, philosophy and spirituality. He was heavily influenced by Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders in that respect and although he desired to articulate a similar spiritual message in his music his sound was much more accessible than that made by those two musicians. “I was trying to keep it all enlightening,” reflected Smith. “I was trying to make people think but at the same time because people love rhythm I wanted to make music they could dance to. I put the two combinations together and it made sense.” 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. 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: Why was the 1970s such a pivotal time? “Everyone was experimenting. There was a bookstore in New York called Wisner’s that you would walk into and see John Coltrane or Sun Ra studying texts on religions and philosophies,” Smith says. “I wrote Expansions because I was studying spirituality and I realised that everyone wants the same thing: peace, love and harmony. I wanted to put that into the feel of the music itself.” 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.”

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. 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.

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In the 90’s, Lonnie got involved with “Guru Jazzmataz Volume One” (Rap meets Jazz) and was discovered by an all new young audience. Lonnie also has had two hit singles with Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z . Mary J. Blige sampled Lonnie’s composition “A Garden of Peace” in her Grammy winning single, “Take Me As I Am” and Jay -Z also sampled, “A Garden of Peace” in his hit sample, “Dead Presidents”.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Lonnie Liston Smith and Adrian Younge in the studio. Photograph: The Artform Studio In 1974, Producer, Bob Thiele, signed Lonnie to a solo recording contract. “Astral Traveling” and “Cosmic Funk” were Lonnie’s first 2 CDs. However, it was his album (CD) , “Expansions” that broke Lonnie into the major leagues as a worldwide leader. The CD was a breath of fresh air in 1975 as it combined solid Jazz playing with creative crossover elements that did not dilute the music. While many of Lonnie’s contemporaries were making records that were artistically bankrupt, (fusion music at this time had become big business), his CDs retained warmth and fire. He recorded several more albums in this vein, including “Visions of a New World” and “Renaissance” before he was approached by CBS. Lonnie continued to make good records for them as well, “Loveland”, “Exotic Mysteries”, “Song for the Children” and “Love Is The Answer”.

Missing lyrics by Lonnie Liston Smith?

A. Does this really need a review I ask myself. Countless heads and others alike know it but what about the newbs wondering what that funky flute tune is called? This is it.

after newsletter promotion It’s like what Miles and Pharoah taught me – you have to keep growing and searching for what is new

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After graduating from Armstrong High School, Lonnie entered Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he majored in music education and earned his B.S. degree. While attending Morgan State University, Lonnie became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and also a member of the music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. 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, during an interview for Electronic Standards, starts to write the lyrics of the LP theme and prepare his explanations: a b c d e f g h i j k l Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Conciseed.). Virgin Books. p.1103. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.