The newest featured album is just another perfect example of the many styles Avant-Garde Jazz had to offer to its listeners. It also points towards the direction in which Jazz took in the 70’s. The synthesizer began to have more of a presence and was more trendier. The old guard of Jazz musicians had to make an adjustment to the demands of a new generation. The newer Jazz musicians had to incorporate the challenging new electrical sound to the traditional Jazz sound. This album was one of the earliest (1969), “The Turning Point” playlist will be featured indefinitely, check the schedule link for when it will be airing.
More on the Album:
Blues-based and funky, soul-jazz isn’t known for encouraging wildly eclectic playing in its musicians. And while Lonnie Smith’s TURNING POINT is by no stretch an experimental outing–it sticks to the basic structures of the soul-jazz genre–there is plenty of adventurous playing within those confines. In large part, this is attributable to the superb personnel here, which includes trumpeter Lee Morgan…..Read More
Biography of Lonnie Smith (NOT to be confused with Lonnie Liston Smith):
He was born in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music. He was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings. Art Kubera, the owner of a local music store, gave Smith his first organ, a Hammond B3.[2]
Smith’s affinity for R&B melded with his own personal style as he became active in the local music scene. He moved to New York City, where he met George Benson, the guitarist for Jack McDuff’s band. Benson and Smith connected on a personal level, and the two formed the George Benson Quartet, featuring Lonnie Smith, in 1966.
After two albums under Benson’s leadership, It’s Uptown and Cookbook, Smith recorded his first solo album (Finger Lickin’ Good) in 1967, with George Benson and Melvin Sparks on guitar, Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax, and Marion Booker on drums. This combination remained stable for the next five years……..Learn More
