Lonnie Liston Smith

Before Lonnie Liston Smith recorded a note under his own name, he had already played on some of the most significant records in the spiritual jazz canon. Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1940 into a gospel-saturated household, he came to New York in the mid-1960s and spent the following years working as a sideman for Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, and Gato Barbieri, appearing on Sanders albums including "Jewels of Thought" (1970) and "Thembi" (1971) before Miles Davis called in early 1972 and asked him to learn organ in two days for the sessions that produced "On the Corner". That sequence of experiences, gospel roots, Sanders' spiritual intensity, Davis's electric restlessness, shaped the music Smith then made as a leader. He signed with producer Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label, formed the Cosmic Echoes with his brother Donald on flute and vocals, and between 1973 and 1977 released six albums that drew a direct line from John Coltrane's cosmic reach to funk and soul. "Expansions" (1975) is the most enduring of them, its title track later becoming one of the most sampled pieces in the Flying Dutchman catalogue. Four Columbia albums followed from 1978, moving closer to disco and smooth jazz. The Flying Dutchman records are what collectors seek out, and several have seen reissues in recent years reflecting sustained demand.

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