Lonnie Liston Smith

Lonnie Liston Smith cut his teeth as a sideman with legendary bandleaders like Art Blakey, Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis. He first appeared on a Flying Dutchman LP when he played piano on the Leon Thomas album “Spirits Known And Unknown.” from 1969. Bob Thiele later signed Smith and his debut LP “Astral Travelling” under the banner of Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes was released in 1973. This blend of jazz funk quickly found an audience that led to the follow-up “Cosmic Funk” in 1974. The seminal “Expansions” followed in 1975 which took Smith’s music to a wider audience and is now considered as a stone cold classic.