Lonnie Liston Smith

Lonnie Liston Smith
Lonnie Liston Smith performing live at the Glastonbury Festival, June 27, 2009
Background information
Born	(1940-12-28) December 28, 1940 (age 76) Richmond, Virginia, United States
Genres	Jazz, Soul, Funk
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Piano, Keyboard
Associated acts	Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Betty Carter, Gato Barbieri, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Basement Jaxx

Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such notable jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion, quiet storm, smooth jazz and acid jazz genres.

Smith was born into a musical family; his father was a member of Richmond Gospel music group The Harmonizing Four, and Lonnie remembered groups such as the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers (featuring a young Sam Cooke) as regular visitors to the house when he was a child. He learned piano, tuba and trumpet in high school and college, graduating from Morgan State University, Baltimore, with a Bachelor of Science degree in music education. He has since cited Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis as major influences on his youth. While still a teenager at college, Smith became well known locally as a backing vocalist as well as pianist, and played in the Baltimore area with a number of his contemporaries, including Gary Bartz (alto), Grachan Moncur (trombone), and Mickey Bass (bass). He also backed a number of jazz singers such as Betty Carter and Ethel Ennis when, soon after graduating, he began playing live with the house band at the Royal Theater, Baltimore.