Lonnie Liston Smith | Artist
Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician born 1940 in Richmond, Virginia. Smith 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. In high school he studied piano, tuba and trumpet before receiving a B.S. in music education from Morgan State University in Baltimore in 1961. In 1963, he moved to NYC where he initially played piano in Betty Carter's band for a year then began playing with Roland Kirk. His first recording was with Kirk's band on the album Here Comes The Whistleman (Atlantic, 1965). In 1965, Smith joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, sharing the piano position with Mike Nock and Keith Jarrett. Smith moved to Pharoah Sanders' ensemble early in 1968, a group Sanders had set up on the death of John Coltrane the previous year. It is at this point that Smith began experimenting with electric keyboards and from 1972 he took up the invitation to join Miles Davis' band on electric keyboards. Over the next year, during an intense period of studio recording, Davis insisted that Smith learn to play the organ for the sessions: "Miles gave me two nights to learn how to make music on the thing. Miles liked to introduce new sounds in a surprising way." Smith's contributions appeared on On The Corner (1973) and the track "Ife" on Big Fun (1974). Smith finally formed his own group, Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes in 1973, together with his partner in Pharoah Sanders group, Cecil McBee (bass), George Barron (sax), Joe Beck (guitar), David Lee, Jr. (drums), James Mtume (percussion), Sonny Morgan (percussion), Badal Roy (tabla drums), and Geeta Vashi (tamboura), blending atmospheric fusion, soul and funk sounds. Smith released a total of 18 studio albums either as soloist or leader of The Cosmic Echoes, highlights include Astral Travelling, Cosmic Funk, Expansions, Visions of a New World and Live! The Cosmic Echoes tracks have featured in three videogames: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto IV and Driver: Parallel Lines. Smith appeared on the Jazz World Stage at Glastonbury Festival June 2009.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Lonnie_Liston_Smith
Featured Albums: Lonnie Liston Smith
Related Artists: Pharoah Sanders, Roland Kirk, The Cosmic Echoes
Video Clips: With Gato Barbieri, Expansions, Live Zycopolis TV
