Lonnie Liston Smith: Jazz Is Dead 17

If someone has not released a recording in twenty five years, it must be a special occasion. Lonnie Liston Smith went out west, met a Fender Rhodes piano and, voila, conjured up the '70s again. So, technology and memory presumably explain the appearance of this recording, part of the ironically named Jazz is Dead label's series, founded in 2017 by music producers Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), concert producer Andrew Lojero and industry veteran Adam Block. The stated purpose of the series is "to travel the world searching for the artists that created them." What, then, could go wrong?

Since Roy Ayers and Gary Bartz have also made contributions to the series, Smith assumed that there must be something of value, one way or another. What there is, really, is a flashback to the '70s, when a younger (if in existence) audience heard somewhat more inspired versions of what is on offer here. One will remember sneaking into a club or a party and hearing synthesizers, variously electronic, all enveloped in a haze of some sort. There may have been a vocalist as there is here—Loren Oden, whose talents may or may not have been employed to their fullest extent. In any event, the music, very different at the time, seemed portentous. For fans of the new Miles Davis and In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), the future beckoned. It was about atmospherics, and a kind of Putney Swope-ish, one way or another defiance, suitably garbed and coiffed. It was fun, really. This is that future, although it is fifty years later.

An experienced listener may be forgiven the feeling of having heard this song before. If it is new, it may be enticing. If not, it is what it is. Some of what it is is probably post-production shazam. How much was done in real time? How much of it was a surprise to Lonnie Liston Smith, on first hearing? Most of the tracks are relatively brief. But if jazz is dead, does it really matter? This is strictly for fans of the genre. Check back in another twenty five years to hear what, if anything, has changed..

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