Lonnie Liston Smith - The Cosmic Echoes (1973 - 1985)

1985)

While passing through Miles Davis' ever-changing line-up, Lonnie had 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, Lonnie was encouraged by Bob Thiele, the owner of Flying Dutchman Records, who had produced both Pharaoh Sanders' and Gato Barbieri's output while Lonnie had been in their bands, the latter for Thiele's newly formed label. For his debut album, "Astral Traveling" (Flying Dutchman, 1973), Lonnie re-recorded the title song he had composed and played on with the Pharoah Sanders band two years previous. An instrumental album, "Astral Travelling" also contained a re-arrangement of the Gospel standard "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord," which Lonnie had also previously arranged for Sanders.

The following year Lonnie's brother Donald joined the Cosmic Echoes as vocalist for "Cosmic Funk" (Flying Dutchman, 1974). Although he remained close to his earlier roots with featured versions of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and John Coltrane's "Naima" on this album, 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, spacy 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. 'I was trying to expand the consciousness of humanity' explained Lonnie in an interview in 2009. This attitude may not have endeared Lonnie to the hardcore free jazz fans who had appreciated his earlier work, but this new relaxed fusion style proved extremely popular with a cross-over audience not normally associated with jazz, and the following albums, "Expansions" (Flying Dutchman, 1974), "Visions of a New World" (Flying Dutchman, 1975) and "Reflections of a Golden Dream" (RCA, 1976) have since become semi-legendary mainstays of the jazz-funk and chill jazz genres with djs and audiences worldwide, especially in Europe and Japan. "Renaissance" (RCA, 1977) continued this crossover fame, and the following year Lonnie expanded upon his success with a new contract with Columbia Records and two further acclaimed crossover albums in "Loveland" (Columbia, 1978) and "Exotic Mysteries" (Columbia, 1978), the latter containing the single "Space Princess" which became a disco/r+b hit still popular in clubs today in both 7" and remixed 12" versions. "Space Princess" was written by and featured the thundering basslines of 16-year old Marcus Miller, who was discovered by Lonnie and also wrote the track "Night Flower" on "Exotic Mysteries". A further track from the same album, "Quiet Moments" was to become a mainstay of the smooth jazz genre over the next decade.

After the crossover success of the 1970s, and continuing interest in and discovery of his earlier work by fans of the new 'Quiet Storm' late night radio/smooth jazz format, Lonnie moved to Bob Thiele's new label, Doctor Jazz, and had a minor hit in 1983 with "Never Too Late". He also appeared in Marvin Gaye's backing band at the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival, which has since been released on both CD and DVD (Eagle Vision, 2003). However, public interest slowly waned in his newer material as the decade wore on, and the Cosmic Echoes eventually dissipated during the mid-80's after releasing a further three albums mining the same smooth jazz field "Dreams of Tomorrow" (Doctor Jazz, 1983), "Silhouettes" (Doctor Jazz, 1984) and "Rejuvenation" (Doctor Jazz, 1985).