Lonnie Liston Smith’s last album for the Flying Dutchman label ‘Renaissance’ was actually released on RCA in 1976. It is the bridge between his jazzier Flying Dutchman recordings and slightly more commercial Columbia albums that followed. ‘Space Lady’ and the slightly slower ‘Mongotee’ are typical Lonnie Liston instrumental Jazz- Funk grooves, with supple rhodes cascading over taught, funky and swollen basslins. ‘Mardi Gras (Carnival) ‘ has a Brazilian flavour and a relentless groove which has made it a Jazz- Dance classic, an uptempo samba with percussive frills and an inate danceability laden with hand percussion and agogo/cowbells. ‘Renaissance’ is a beautiful mid tempo groove featuring brother Donald Smith on vocals , which has that kick to the rhythm making it popular on the 2-Step Rare Groove scene. ‘A Song of Love’ is a lovely uplifting song with Lonnie playing Acoustic Piano and brother Donald singing, a track that shuffles along nicely. Donald also puts his pipes to good use on the downtempo ‘Starlight and You’, a tyically lush Lonnie Liston Smith soundscape, bright, tropical and dense.
‘Renaissance’ is an impressive body of work, a critically under-rated album that deserves greater acclaim.
Buy the CD HERE
Check out the tracks below;
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Space Lady
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Mardi Gras (Carnival)
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Starlight And You
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Mongotee
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – A Song Of Love
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Between Here And There
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Renaissance
Check out some other Lonnie Liston Smith albums that we have in stock, a wonderful musician and one of the pioneering lights of 70’s Jazz Fusion, whose influence on dance music—and Jazz more generally—is canonical.
