Lonnie Liston Smith JID017

Lonnie Liston Smith is the latest jazz-funk icon to be tempted back into the studio by Jazz Is Deads Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. His 1970s Flying Dutchman recordings with the Cosmic Echoes offered a different approach to the jazz-rock fusion of the time. Deeply interested in Eastern and African spirituality, the keyboardist created a sweetly soulful brand of jazz fusion where R&B and funk held sway over rock. Before Lonnie Liston Smith JID017, he hadnt released an album since 1998s underrated Transformation. The musically savvy partnership of Muhammad and Younge talked him into headlining their live Black History Month series in February 2020, before COVID locked down the planet. The duo re-enlisted him in 2022 for this nine-track set at their studio. Smith plays Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano; Muhammad plays bass guitar and Rhodes; and Younge appears on electric guitars, bass, synth, clavinet, vibraphone, and Hammond B-3. Drums are handled alternately by Greg Paul and Malachi Morehead. Soul and gospel singer Loren Oden appears on four tracks. Opener "Love Brings Happiness" is one of the Oden showcases. Smiths acoustic piano provides the modal frame as Muhammad paints it with Fender Rhodes. Younge sets up behind Oden, playing fuzzy, bright, shard-like guitar fills that recall those of Ernie Isely. Synths, clavinet, and vibes all appear in the dense mix. Smith and Oden find their way onto another musical plane, pushing each other into the improv stratosphere. "Dawn" is a breezy, soulful instrumental wherein electric guitars, piano, synths, and saxes (played by Younge) meet bass and breaking, syncopated drums. Oden also appears on "Cosmic Changes." Smith, Younge, and Paul offer an approach akin to the one Smith employed on jazz and blues singer Leon Thomas Spirits Known and Unknown. An open modal chord sequence introduces Oden, who claims the poetic lyric, makes it soar, and meets the instrumentalists for mutual discovery. Odens last appearance is on "Love Can Be," which juxtaposes funky, cracking tom-toms, syncopated snares, Smiths gorgeous Rhodes playing, and Younges B-3, synths, guitars, and horns. This is spiritual soul music at its best. Odens control and range naturally rise above the bands intimate, instinctual interplay. "Fete" is Latinized jazz fusion with a killer Rhodes solo from Smith and a bumping bassline from Muhammad, while Younge buoys the proceedings on tenor and soprano saxophones and Morehead brings the syncopation and funk. "What May Come" is a dramatic exercise in modal fusion with Smiths Rhodes framed by B-3, guitars, saxes, and synths, while Morehead keeps them anchored and moving simultaneously. In "A New Spring," Odens wordless hovering, swooping vocals are framed by Mellotron, Rhodes piano, and bubbling, syncopated drums and bass. So many of the composer/pianists stylistic trademarks are on display that Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 may be the best series entry in capturing the most important, recognizable elements of the artists influential core sound and showcasing them as quite relevant. Its a lovely, affirming album that is well worth seeking out. ~ Thom Jurek

〈Jazz Is Dead〉シリーズ第17弾はロニー・リストン・スミス。彼の70年代の作品群と並べて聴いても違和感のないコズミックなジャズ・ファンク/フュージョンが、本人のまろやかなフェンダーローズによりさらに浮遊感を増す好盤。ローレン・オデンが歌う"Cosmic Changes"や、クールなベースラインが蠢く"Fete"などエイドリアンとアリらしいモダンな采配も効果的だ。
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