Lonnie's Boys From gospel-quartet singing to free jazz and doo-wop, the Smith family has influenced not only Richmond's music, but America's.
It takes a lot to blow the mind of a musician who specializes in cosmic space jazz.
"Oh man, I can't believe this," Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. says from his home in Short Pump. "I'm looking on the computer and ... I just didn't know."
(And it should blow our minds that the out-there jazz keyboardist who helped to bring the world such albums as "Expansions," the guy who swapped visionary riffs with the likes of Miles Davis, Max Roach and Pharoah Sanders, lives in Short Pump. But let's not digress. We'll get back to that.)
Smith recently learned that his father, as a member of the Richmond-based Harmonizing Four, sang at the White House in 1945 following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He's flabbergasted. "You've got to let Richmond know about this," he says.
History doesn't record what was sung for Mrs. Roosevelt on that important day, but no doubt it was appropriate for the occasion. The Harmonizing Four was nothing if not a group that understood tradition and the changing of the guard.
It was on a hot summer day in 1927 when four black teenagers, each from a different South Richmond church, got together to sing. What emerged from their early Dunbar Elementary School performances was a gospel brand that would sustain itself through countless lineup changes and shifting musical tastes for more than 60 years.
But the Harmonizing Four are little known today in their own hometown. There's no marker, no plaque, no signpost to symbolize the starting point for a musical unit that inspired listeners across the nation and kept Richmond alive with praise for generations.
"I don't think that Virginia, as a whole, knew how great this gospel group was worldwide," Richmond soul singer and drummer Tyrone Thomas says.
"The Harmonizing Four was a huge influence on groups — regionally as well as nationally," echoes Barksdale Haggins, the longtime owner of Barky's Spirituals on East Broad Street. The record store has been the hub of the Richmond gospel scene since 1956.
The "Four" (actually a quintet during their glory years) performed a form of a cappella music that had been popular in black culture since the late 19th century. One of the epicenters for the singing style was Hampton Roads, anchored by Hampton Institute's pioneering African-American quartets. But Richmond had its share (one of the earliest to record professionally was the Old South Quartette, a quartet that waxed songs in 1909 with white songster Polk Miller).
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Iconic jazz pianist still lets the music flow - Music - NewsObserver.com
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Before Lonnie Liston Smith became an international sensation, he was spending an obligatory Sunday of his Virginia boyhood listening to free-form church worship.
A deacon would throw a call heavenward - "I love the Lord. He heard my cry" or some other practiced recitation - and waiting parishioners would throw back a wondering, arching response. "I-Iiiii-Iiii-uh loooooo-uh-uve, thee-ee-eeee-eee-e-e, La-aw-aw-d ..."The music took shape depending on what was transpiring in the lives of those gathered, on who needed a healing or some other help or, citing the good that had come their way, simply to say "hallelujah."
A deacon would throw a call heavenward - "I love the Lord. He heard my cry" or some other practiced recitation - and waiting parishioners would throw back a wondering, arching response. "I-Iiiii-Iiii-uh loooooo-uh-uve, thee-ee-eeee-eee-e-e, La-aw-aw-d ..."The music took shape depending on what was transpiring in the lives of those gathered, on who needed a healing or some other help or, citing the good that had come their way, simply to say "hallelujah."
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Our conversation with the Lonnie Liston Smith: Views on creativity, sampling, and more
On Wednesday, we spoke with the great Lonnie Liston Smith, whose music we featured for Album Cut Wednesday a few weeks ago. He was as warm and gracious as his music suggests he would be. Here's what he had to say.
Where does your talent come from?
I came from a musical family; I almost came out of the womb playing music. I became creative by playing with people like Miles Davis, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Pharoah Sanders. Sam Cooke used to come by the house. All these artists were very creative, and we were brought up that way – I just grew up in a very creative period. I've always believed in the creative aspect of the music, and with improvisation, you're creating in the spur of the moment, right there in front of the audience.
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Where does your talent come from?
I came from a musical family; I almost came out of the womb playing music. I became creative by playing with people like Miles Davis, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Pharoah Sanders. Sam Cooke used to come by the house. All these artists were very creative, and we were brought up that way – I just grew up in a very creative period. I've always believed in the creative aspect of the music, and with improvisation, you're creating in the spur of the moment, right there in front of the audience.
Click the photo below- for the Full Article on Lonnie Liston Smith
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