Lonnie Liston Smith Biography
Keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith (not be confused with soul-jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith) began his career playing acoustic piano in the ’60s, before reinventing himself in the ’70s as an eclectic fusion bandleader. The Virginia-born Smith first gained distinction as a sideman with Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gato Barbieri and Betty Carter, before joining Miles Davis’ band as electric keyboardist.
Smith was still working with Davis in 1973, when he signed with producer Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label and cut his first album as a leader, Astral Traveling. That disc debuted Smith’s band the Cosmic Echoes, which initially included saxophonist George Barron, guitarist Joe Beck, bassist Cecil McBee and percussionist James Mtume. It also introduced the direction that Smith would pursue for the next several years, mixing elements of funk, soul and rock with Indian percussion, and exploring spiritual themes that underlined the music’s cosmic vibe.
The keyboardist added his brother Donald Smith on tenor sax and occasional lead vocals for the subsequent releases Cosmic Funk, Expansions, Visions of a New World, Reflections of a Golden Dream and Renaissance. In 1978, Smith and company moved to Columbia Records to record Loveland and Exotic Mysteries. The latter album produced the funk-disco flavored “Space Princess,” which became a crossover R&B hit. Smith continued to pursue a commercially accessible direction with the subsequent Song for the Children and Love Is the Answer.
Smith continued recording with the ever-shifting Cosmic Echoes through the mid-’80s, when he shifted musical gears to explore other musical approaches. He resumed his vintage fusion style in the late ’90s, reembracing his Cosmic Echoes format and reuniting with his brother Donald.
More recently, Smith’s vintage work has become popular with contemporary hip-hop and R&B artists; among those who have sampled his records are Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Stetsasonic, Digable Planets, Stacie Orrico and Three 6 Mafia. Meanwhile, the title track of Expansions has been featured in the videogames Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Driver: Parallel Lines. Another Smith number, “A Chance for Peace,” appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
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