Lonnie Liston Smith (Piano): Renaissance

• After the success of “Expansions”, Lonnie Liston Smith & the Cosmic Echoes were riding high, with Lonnie at the height of his creative powers and his brother Donald’s vocals adding to the cosmic jazz sound. • Two more albums had followed on Flying Dutchman before changes at RCA meant that it was decided that the next long-player would be released on the parent label. As such, the final Cosmic Echoes album was something of an outlier and has remained out of print since the early 2000s. A glorious concoction that saw the group mix up Lonnie’s innate sense of melody, rhythm and spiritual consciousness, it was a fitting finale in the studio. • Produced by Bob Thiele and Lonnie, “Renaissance” is being restored to its position in the Flying Dutchman catalogue by this BGP reissue. A masterpiece of cosmic jazz funk, it includes the reflective ‘Between Here And There’, ‘Space Lady’ and the jazz dance classic ‘Mardi Gras (Carnival)’.