{"title":"Lonnie Liston Smith","description":"\u003cp\u003eBefore 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"lonnie-liston-smith-and-the-cosmic-echoes-expansions-2025-bgp-flying-dutchman-aaa-reissue-gatefold-lp","title":"Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes - Expansions (2025 BGP\/Flying Dutchman AAA Reissue Gatefold LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes - \u003cem\u003eExpansions\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 2025 BGP\/Flying Dutchman AAA Reissue (XXQLP 145, 180g Gatefold, Frank Merritt\/The Carvery)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLonnie Liston Smith spent the late 1960s and early 1970s as a sideman in some of the most intense bands in jazz. He played with Art Blakey. He played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He was Pharoah Sanders's pianist on \u003cem\u003eKarma\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eIzipho Zam\u003c\/em\u003e. He worked with Gato Barbieri and with Miles Davis. When he formed the Cosmic Echoes in 1973 with his brother Donald on vocals and flute, Cecil McBee on bass and a rotating cast of percussionists, the band drew on everything those years had given him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eExpansions\u003c\/em\u003e, recorded across two days in November 1974, was their third album and the one that reached the widest audience. The title track builds from a bass vamp and Fender Rhodes figure into a slow, rolling groove that Donald Smith's tenor voice carries without urgency. It went to No. 2 on the Billboard jazz chart and has since been sampled by so many hip-hop producers that listing them is its own genre exercise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of the album operates on a different level from the title track's fame. \"Desert Nights\" and \"Voodoo Woman\" are the most openly jazz-rooted pieces, Smith improvising modally over Carvin's drumming with Hubbard's soprano weaving through the texture. \"Summer Days\" shifts to a Latin feel, Franco's percussion driving a lighter groove. \"Peace\" and \"My Love\" are softer, closer to the spiritual jazz that Sanders had been recording throughout the same period. \"Shadows\" features Hubbard's soprano saxophone and oboe against Smith's sustained Rhodes chords, creating an atmosphere that the Ace Records liner notes identify as the album's most overlooked moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the 2025 BGP Records\/Ace all-analogue reissue (XXQLP 145), cut by Frank Merritt at the Carvery from the original master tapes, 180g, gatefold.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Flying Dutchman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43609988235323,"sku":null,"price":80.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/9782b630-744d-4525-8df4-fea0f56c0390.webp?v=1781170857"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/lonnie-liston-smith.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}