Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. Born 28th December in Richmond, Virginia in 1940 to a musical family. His father was a member of Gospel group The Harmonizing Four and he remembers groups such as the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers (featuring a young Sam Cooke) as regular visitors to the house. He studied piano, tuba and trumpet in school and received a B.S. in music education in 1961. His major influences being Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. While still a teenager Lonnie became well known locally as a backing vocalist for numerous jazz singers as well as pianist in the Baltimore metropolitan area regularly performing with a number of his contemporaries including Gary Bartz (alto), Grachan Moncur (trombone), and Mickey Bass (bass).

In 1963 he moved to New York playing piano in Betty Carter's band for a year and later with Roland Kirk first recording with his band on Here Comes The Whistleman an album recorded live in New York in 1965. Following this he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers sharing the piano position with Mike Nock and Keith Jarrett.

Following another stint with Roland Kirk, Lonnie moved to Pharoah Sanders' ensemble early in 1968, 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 Lonnie began experimenting with the electric keyboard.

He joined Gato Barbieri's band from 1971 to 1973 which would influence Lonnie's playing into new directions in the following years along with Miles Davis insisting he learnt to play the organ. While passing through Miles'ever-changing line-up Lonnie finally formed his own group, 'Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes' in 1973 together with his partner in Pharoah Sanders group, Cecil McBee, on bass, George Barron (soprano and tenor 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,

The following year Lonnie's brother Donald joined as vocalist for Cosmic Funk, by now Lonnie was heading into the smooth jazz funk/fusion style that would dominate his output from here on, with dreamy vocals and long, spacey 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. Expansions (Flying Dutchman, 1974), Visions of a New World (Flying Dutchman, 1975) and Reflections of a Golden Dream (RCA, 1976) have since become mainstays of the jazz-funk and chill jazz genres with DJs and audiences worldwide. Renaissance (RCA, 1976) continued this crossover fame and the following year Lonnie expanded upon his success with a new contract with Columbia Records and two further crossover albums in Loveland and Exotic Mysteries, the latter containing the single "Space Princess" which became a disco/R&B hit still popular today. "Space Princess" was written by and featured the bass lines of a 16-year-old Marcus Miller who was discovered by Lonnie and also wrote the track "Night Flower" on Exotic Mysteries.

For Dreams of Tomorrow Lonnie enlisted the vocal talents of his younger brother Donald once again for A Lonely Way to Be and Never Too Late which are now considered amongst his finest work.

Although his recordings have slowed in recent years Lonnie still performs, tours all over the world and inspires a new generation of fans. He released his first new recording in 25 years "JID017" on Jazz is Dead Label in 2023.

Artist

Lonnie Liston Smith Jnr

Born:

28th December 1940

Artist Bio

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