Dr Lonnie Smith
Jazz Hammond flame-keeper BORN 1942
Cutting an exotic, almost mystical figure with his title and turban (both self-mythologising stylings), Lonnie Smith was a deft, soulful organist in the 1960s who expanded into a range of textural, atmospheric fusions as the decades progressed, latterly returning to a dramatic soul-jazz style, becoming a Rare Groove hero along the way.
Born in Buffalo, NY, Smith was originally a singer and a self-taught pianist. He was gifted his first Hammond organ by a local music store owner in the mid-1960s, and a year later joined George Benson’s group, appearing on the guitarist’s remarkable Columbia albums It’s Uptown (1966) and The George Benson Cookbook (1967). As a leader he produced four increasingly funky albums for Blue Note in the years 1968-70 and supported saxophonist Lou Donaldson on a further four from 1967 to 1970.
The ’70s and ’80s saw Smith transfer his bluesy modal approach to Fender Rhodes on dance-oriented crossover releases (notably on Keep On Lovin’ from 1976), but he returned to organ in the 1990s for a series of muscular, substantial groove albums, sometimes in tribute to other musicians (John Coltrane, Beck), often in the company of heavyweight collaborators (Joe Lovano, Peter Bernstein). A series of fine albums in the 2000s on Palmetto, his own Pilgrimage label, and finally in 2016 a return to Blue Note cemented his position as a capacious groove-jazz auteur. One of his last releases was a cover of Donovan’s Sunshine Superman with Iggy Pop on vocals.
A hugely expressive player with a penchant for drama, texture and dynamics, Smith was the last survivor of classic soul-jazz who remained true to the Hammond B-3 organ. “It’s like a marriage,” he said, “it’s like a fire, it’s electricity that goes through my body… It has all the elements, the rain, the storm, the sun, the moon, the earth, the water, it has everything.”
Chris Ingham