Lonnie Smith - Funk Reaction (Mr Bongo Reissue Gatefold Vinyl LP)

Lonnie Smith - Funk Reaction | Vinyl LP - 2024 Mr Bongo Reissue (MRBLP298, gatefold)

• Steve Gadd on drums, Will Lee and Bob Babbitt on bass, Randy Brecker and Marvin Stamm in the horn section, a New York studio orchestra assembled by producer Sonny Lester for the Hammond B3 organist who'd spent the 1960s with George Benson and Lou Donaldson on Blue Note.
• Six tracks of jazz-funk and disco recorded in June 1977 at three New York studios, with Brad Baker arranging and conducting and Lance Quinn supervising, the album that took Lonnie Smith furthest from the organ-trio format he started in.
• Mr Bongo gatefold reissue pressed at Optimal Media, part of Mr Bongo's series exploring the Sonny Lester catalogue. Chuck Stewart photographed the cover.

Lonnie Smith spent the 1960s as one of Blue Note's house organists. He played Hammond B3 in George Benson's early quartet, joined Lou Donaldson's band, and recorded a string of soul-jazz albums under his own name: Think!, Turning Point, Move Your Hand, Drives. By 1977 he'd moved to Sonny Lester's labels, first Groove Merchant and then Lester Radio Corporation, and the music had moved with him. Funk Reaction is jazz-funk and disco played by a cast of New York session musicians whose combined credits cover half the pop and soul records made in that city during the decade. Steve Gadd plays drums on several tracks alongside Jimmy Young, Gary Mure and Alan Schwartzberg. Will Lee, Bob Babbitt (the Motown Funk Brother) and Francisco Centano share the bass chair. Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm, Alan Rubin, Barry Rogers and a full brass section play the horn arrangements. Pat Rebillot, Paul Griffin and Yaron Gershovsky handle keyboards. Smith plays organ throughout but is uncredited on the original sleeve, his presence audible in the harmonic foundation of every track without being named on the gatefold.

The title track is the dancefloor hit, five minutes of disco-funk built on a brass riff. "For The Love Of It" sits closer to jazz. "Babbitt's Other Song" is a Babbitt composition with Eddie Daniels on tenor saxophone building over a shifting arrangement that gains tempo as it progresses. "When The Night Is Right" is the slow-burn centrepiece, with Richie Hohenberger's guitar solo and Gershovsky's keyboards. "All In My Mind" closes the album in blues-oriented territory that Smith returned to later in his career. Brad Baker arranged and conducted the orchestra.

This is the 2024 Mr Bongo reissue (MRBLP298), pressed at Optimal Media in a gatefold sleeve replicating the original.