Lonnie Liston Smith

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lonnie Liston Smith is an American jazz pianist and keyboardist, born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1940. His father sang in a gospel group. Smith came to New York in 1963, where he played with Betty Carter, Roland Kirk and Art Blakey, among others, and then with Pharoah Sanders in a band that sought the edge of free jazz. On Sanders's album Thembi he touched a Fender Rhodes for the first time. Later he also worked with Gato Barbieri and Miles Davis.

Music and breakthrough

In 1973 he formed his own group, Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes. The albums Cosmic Funk from 1974, Expansions from 1974 and Visions of a New World from 1975 contain a calm fusion of jazz, soul and funk, with dreamy vocals, long spacey instrumental passages, a solid bass line and light percussion. The lyrics and titles carry a message of peace. Smith said that he wanted to expand the consciousness of humankind.

Influence

This style attracted an audience outside jazz. His music later became a staple of jazz-funk, chill jazz and acid jazz. In the 1990s hip-hop artists discovered him, among them Guru. Expansions can be heard in the computer games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Driver: Parallel Lines. In 2023 he released his first new recording in twenty-five years.

Listening

• 
  Expansions · Lonnie Liston Smith, 1975

Discography

Studio albums

• 1978Exotic Mysteries
• 1978Loveland
• 1979A Song for the Children
• 1980Love Is the Answer
• 1983Dreams of Tomorrow
• 1984Silhouettes
• 1985Rejuvenation
• 1986Make Someone Happy
• 1990Love Goddess
• 1991Magic Lady
• 1998Transformation
• 2000Silhouettes
• 2023Lonnie Liston Smith JID017

Mentioned in other articles

• Jazz-funk GenreThe vibraphonist Roy Ayers and the keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith also won a large audience.

See also

• Dreams of Tomorrow