Biography of Lonnie Liston Smith

Piano, keyboards, composer. Lonnie Liston Smith has moved from the cutting edges of avant-garde jazz to commercial fusion in the past two decades. His father was a member of the famous gospel group The Harmonising Four for decades, and two of his brothers are singers, including Donald, who's appeared on several Smith releases. He played with Betty Carter in 1963-1964, worked in the remainder of the decade with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Art Blakey, and Joe Williams before joining Pharoah Sanders in 1969. He was on keyboards for several epic albums by Pharoah Sanders, providing thematic unity, keyboard clusters, textures and support for Sanders' exotic, sometimes searing tenor and soprano forays. He later worked with Leon Thomas and Gato Barbieri before starting his own group. His late-70s and 80s albums increasingly became more R&B and mood music, with lesser improvisational content and sometimes embarrassing lyrics. He often gets confused with organist Lonnie Smith. ~ Ron Wynn