![]() ![]() ![]() Why did it take so long for you to release another album? It turned out great, and everyone is excited. They also added all kinds of other sounds. LLS: When I was listening to the final version, I heard vocals, and there were only the three of us in the studio, with no one singing. They recorded it, and when I left, they added other things to it. ![]() Adrian and Ali had ideas on motifs, and they said, “Well, we want you to develop them.” Which I did. It was just bass and drums in the studio and myself. ![]() When I got, I was introduced to Adrian and Ali, both of whom I wasn’t previously aware. I decided to record with them because they had recorded Gary Bartz, Jean Carn, and others. LLS: I got there through Drew, who I guess is the business representative for Jazz is Dead. PG: How did you get hooked up with Jazz is Dead? They have a studio with the same stuff we had back in the 70s the same sound boards, same keyboards, everything. Recording with Jazz is Dead was an interesting experience ’cause they have a different way of recording. PostGenre: JID017 is the first album you have released in twenty-five years. Instead, each connect to form a unified theme: a lineage of contemporary Black musical excellence in its many varied forms. But it is folly to compartmentalize these facets and view them in isolation. And his many hats as an artist – post-bop messenger avant-garde experimentalist musical translator in cross-cultural communication cosmic voyager seeking tranquility advocate of a softer Afrofuturism sampling icon. Smith’s own role as a young musician at a powerhouse Historically Black University. Throughout our conversation with Smith, we hit many different musical points in his life thus far. But JID017 does not stay mired in the Cosmic Echoes era of Smith’s career, as “Gratitude” veers a bit off-kilter, invoking his work with such firebrands as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis at his most artistically free. Or the balladic “Dawn” which is similarly imbued with a psychedelic otherworldliness as Younge’s synths swirl above Smith’s acoustic piano. Take “Kaleidoscope” where an energetic yet ethereal Fender Rhodes-led melody rides atop up-tempo drum rhythms. The Cosmic Echoes’ work also serves as a primary influence for JID 017, Smith’s first release in a quarter century. Smith’s work with the Cosmic Echoes produced several tracks, most notably “Expansions”,, which many would later view as classics in fusion, smooth jazz, and – the now largely lost to time – acid jazz. The Cosmic Echoes appealed to a large crossover audience by emphasizing a gentle and soothing yet exotic sound, even as the bottom line pushed a heavy grooving funk. The best examples of this cross-genre approach can be found in the output of his mid-70s group, the Cosmic Echoes. Musically, Smith often inhabits some space between funk, jazz, and soul music. JID 017 (Jazz is Dead, 2023)’s artist of focus: pianist-keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith. Though occasionally denigrated by purists, the music of these artists has stood the test of time, even forming the sampled underpinnings of many hip-hop high points. Of particular focus have been the luminaries who made incredible improvisation-based music during the era of jazz’s alleged demise, the 1970s. Across their almost twenty volumes of the Jazz is Dead series, performer-producers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge have exposed listening audiences to under-discussed legends among us who continue to shape music. ![]()
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