Lonnie Liston Smith & the Cosmic Echoes - Visions of a New World

A jazz funk classic. Features club favourite ‘A Chance For Peace’ and the spiritual jazz masterpiece ‘Devika (Goddess)’.

Lonnie Liston Smith’s fourth album for Flying Dutchman came at a momentous time in his career. His previous release, “Expansions”, had finally given him a considerable level of success. The title song was a club and radio success and sales of the album soared. The track would eventually enshrine Lonnie as a hero to generations of clubbers, but for now it was just a successful record, to which his record label required a follow-up.

Lonnie had signed to the label on the back of a period when he was a member of Miles Davis’ group, and his music became associated with the sort of electronic jazz Miles was making at the time. In reality Lonnie’s music was a little more acoustic and relaxed – although he did utilise electric keyboards – and filled with spiritual concerns.

‘Expansions’ had expressed those concerns, and so too did ‘A Chance For Peace’, the lead track on “Visions Of A New World”. A pulsating funk groove, it gave Lonnie another club hit and helped propel the album into the Soul Top 20. The rest of the record had more of a jazz feel, with the assembled players working their way through one of the best realisations of Lonnie’s cosmic jazz odyssey. Special mention should be made of vocalist Donald Smith (Lonnie’s brother) and saxophonist Dave Hubbard, whose composition ‘Devika (Goddess)’ is one of the album’s highlights.

Dean Rudland