Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes – Summer Nights (recorded July 18, 1975)

Described by Smith as one of his favorite compositions, this spaced-out, beautiful jazz-funk jam was the closing cut on his classic Visions Of A New World LP.

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On July 18, 1975, it was a hot summer day in New York City. Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes were at at Electric Lady Studios, recording tracks for Visions Of A New World, their fourth album on producer Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label.

One of the masterpiece cuts they recorded that day was the spaced-out, beautiful jazz-funk jam “Summer Nights,” which Smith wrote and co-produced along with Thiele.

Alongside Smith on keyboards and his brother Donald on vocals and flute, the rest of the lineup included Dave Hubbard on horns, Greg Maker on electric bass, Art Gore and Wilby Fletcher on drums, Ray Armando and Michael Carvin on percussion, Angel Allende on bongos and percussion, and Lawrence Killian on congas and percussion.

The album’s epic opening cut was the message song “A Chance For Peace,” again written by Smith and co-produced by himself and Thiele. Its powerful lyrics, sung by his brother Donald, made clear Smith was on a mission to help us all imagine what a new, peaceful world might look like:

“Give peace a chance…and see what happens. We have our wars, and they are awful. Let’s live in peace and help our brothers. Throughout the land…give peace a chance.”

In a 2009 interview, Smith explained that on Visions Of A New World and his other message-laden, spiritual jazz-funk albums, “I was trying to expand the consciousness of humanity.”

Further info:

“Lonnie Liston Smith & Gilles Peterson,” Red Bull Music Academy, 2015.

#soul #jazz #funk #LonnieListonSmith