FunkFreak75 The Echoes are crumbling: falling into the allure and trappings of the more commercially-successful but soulless musics of Earth, Wind & Fire, Bob James, and Freddie Hubbard.

A1. "Space Lady" (6:40) great heavily-processed electric bass coupled with the clavinet and keyboard-generated electronic bass. Lonnie has definitely mastered the strings (must be a new keyboard he's using to generate them). Flute, saxophone and Fender Rhodes are exemplary at adding the smooth textures while the song remains totally grounded in Jazz-Funk. Brilliant! (9.25/10)

A2. "Mardi Gras (Carnival)" (6:02) raucous celebratory music so fittingly titled. Here Lonnie moves back to his acoustic piano while the percussion team and rhythm section hold fast to a Latin motif start to finish. Great energy and, of course, get-up-and-dance motivation. Nice contributions from the flutes, too. (8.875/10)

A3. "Starlight And You" (5:21) rich, chorused Fender Rhodes with airy flute and percussives open this before the bass, drums, and synth strings set up a gentle NORMAN CONNORS-like motif for Donald Smith to sing over. The problem comes in that Donald is singing a sexy love song--something that feels icky/uncomfortable for we the listener after all of his hymns to the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and the Cosmos. Plus, the song has less jazz pinions and more pop-Soul/R&B foundations than anything I've heard before from Lonnie and the Echoes. (8.66667/10)

B1. "Mongotee" (5:44) back to some jazz-funk with percussion, bass and sax-and-flute providing the grist to the motif. Lonnie's synth strings take over the lead in the third minute, showing his skill at arranging and conducting for an orchestra. (8.75/10)

B2. "A Song Of Love" (4:05) the band tries returning to their more universal themes of praise and gratitude within a song that feels like the band has finally gone fully over to the making of Easy Listening Elevator music. It's good--for that genre--but it just feels so strongly as if it is loosing its jazz-soul to something more commercially-oriented--as if the band is more invested in getting something out for the sales and radio play than the expression of their inner longings and spiritually-elevating mission. (8.75/10)

B3. "Between Here And There" (2:36) Lonnie soloing on his heavily-treated Fender Rhodes. Loveley. (4.5/5)

B4. "Renaissance" (4:53) A high-quality soul/R&B song more akin to the pop-successful music of Earth, Wind & Fire, Rick James, or Steely Dan--complete with female background vocalists. The band has lost their center: allowed it to drop from the heart and third eye to the pelvis. And Donald! I commend your past commitment to the attainment of higher planes while worrying about the giving in to the temptations of the carnal world. (8.75/10)

Total Time: 35:34

Too much of this album is dedicated to showing off Lonnie's new found string synthesizer--and the skill he has at working orchestral strings arrangements into his music.

B/four stars; a collection of very nice, smooth easy listening songs bordering on pop directed. Maybe Lonnie was converted by the success Earth Wind & Fire had with their cover of his own song, "Reasons."

FunkFreak75 As a contingent of Jazz-Rock Fusion artists moves closer to the Smooth, Easy Listening, Adult Contemporary Jazz we find a few leaders in the group. Lonnie and his loyal band of Cosmic Echoes are in that leadership role and this album is one of the earliest and finest masterpieces of the movement.

A1. "A Chance For Peace" (5:18) opens like a heavier, funkier version of Herbie Hancock's "Hidden Shadows" before Donald Smith's Vernon White-like vocal and horn accents join in to present a WAR-like tune. Great groove! It also sounds like it could come from something composed by Barry White for his Love Unlimited Orchestra or War's "Slippin' into Darkness." I love the wah-wah-ed rhythm guitar, the Arp strings, the usual multiple percussionists hard at work, and, of course, Lonnie's pedaled and oscillating Fender Rhodes. Donald's vocal performance is so unusual for him--that natural smooth beauty is ameliorated by trying the direct, hard-punching approach more common to Vernon White and War's Howard Brown. Great song! (9.333/10)

A2. "Love Beams" (4:07) beautiful lazy-day-I'm-in-Heaven float music over which Donald return his beautiful flute playing. A song that could be repeated ad infinitum for the creation of a state permanent bliss. (10/10)

A3. "Colors Of The Rainbow" (5:53) Donald and Lonnie lining up again to worship the Earth Goddess. Beautiful music that succeeds in chasing out any and all demons of stress and anxiety. (9/10)

A4. "Devika (Goddess)" (5:14) beautiful love funk as "told" through Dave Hubbard's sweet saxophone. Greg Maker's laid-back bass play is so uber-cool! (9.25/10)

B1. "Sunset" (4:10) gentle late-night love-lounging music, perfect for sitting with one's cocktail on the tropical vacation home's veranda watching the sunset. Evokes one's natural stress reduction. Could use a little more dynamics, variation, or development. (8.875/10)

B2. "Visions Of A New World (Phase I)" (2:08) roiling ocean piano bottom turns into a rainbow of flitting, flying notes, prompting Donald to join in singing in his usual celestial voice, soaring high above the piano as he goes beyond words. (4.625/5)

B3. "Visions Of A New World (Phase II)" (3:40) a percussion-fronted weave of gentle funk that suggests dancing--both slow dancing (with a partner) and fast dancing independently. The groove is definitely infectious, ending far sooner than the feet and core want it to. Could be another love theme to a scene in a Black sexploitation film. On a level near to that of Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness." (9.125/10)

B4. "Summer Nights" (5:05) Man! can these guys match their music with their titles! Another great late night groove that seems to continue the mood set up by Side Two's opening song "Sunset." My guess is that the two were intended to kind of bookend the side as they do. Great work from Lonnie on both his Fender and his Arp strings play in support. I love the effects he's using on the Fender Rhodes on both his richly-textured left hand as well as the Vangelis Blade Runner-like lead up top. The use of Donald's very understated voice as a support instrument for the main melody as well as his almost-whispered slow repetition of the song title is so perfect! (9.25/10)

Total Time 34:55

Some of the greatest smooth mood music you'll ever hear. There is not a lot of dynamic jazz here but there are very few albums or artists that you will ever hear who so master the gentle moods as Lonnie and the Echoes do here. There is such little need for flash here: as a matter of fact it would be a detriment to the perfection of this music if anyone involved was seeking ego stroking. There really are no egos here! Just a collective trying to administer peace and bliss to the world.

A/five stars; a perfect album of Smooth Jazz: so smooth and yet somehow still maintaining the integrity of jazz through a gentle kind of funk.

FunkFreak75 Recorded on November 25 & 26 of 1974. The Cosmic Echoes continue on their funk-imbued quest to promote the manifestation and realization of higher states of consciousness.

A1. "Expansions" (6:04) an awesome funk-cruisin' groove over which Lonnie's wah-wah-ed Fender Rhodes bounces and Donald Smith's smooth voice and expressive flute slashes and thrashes. It feels right that the Cosmic Echoes now have a full-time clavinet player on board (Michal Carvin). Cecil Bee is his usual awesome self while J-R-F's best percussion team hold it close and a little unusually tight. (9.125/10)

A2. "Desert Nights" (6:45) Lonnie switches to piano while the rhythm crew establish a slow-groovin' motif to quell us into nighttime submission while flute, sax, piano, and drums take turns spewing forth their subdued solos, flourishes, and fills. Lonnie's piano pounding feels a little unsuited to the desert vibe being bouyed by the others but then, who knew he'd have had a history with Don Pullen? (8.875/10) A3. "Summer Days" (5:53) a happy-go-lucky two key samba sounding like something from a Herb Alpert or Sergio Mendes song. Here we find Lonnie once again reverting to the acoustic piano as his main voice. (8.75/10)

B1. "Voodoo Woman" (4:13) a very engaging song that is built over a more insistent beat (due to the prominence of the clavinet). Flutes, hand percussives, and Lonnie's flanged Fender Rhodes make this rather two dimensional song rise above the Easy Listening fare of artists like the more-pop-oriented Bob James, The Crusaders, and Hubert Laws but don't quite take it into the arena of the jazz-funk greats. like Kool & The Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Ohio Players, or (8.875/10)

B2. "Peace" (4:13) a gentle song with Donald Smith back in the vocal driver's seat--very much a vocal-centric song that sounds as if it is built over a variation of Leon Russell's "This Masquerade" chord and melody lines. Very pleasant and jazzy but nothing earth-shattering or ground-breaking. (8.75/10)

B3. "Shadows" (6:20) another gentle melody line around which is constructed a weave of bass, flanged drums, congas and other hand percussives, and rich electric piano and synth strings textures. Dave Hubbard plays a gentle sax over the top before Lonnie takes over with his delay-echoed Fender Rhodes. (He must have really been trying hard to figure out how to use this echo effect. It's really hard to do--and Lonnie by no means crushes it.) The overall music is actually good but diminished by (8.875/10)

B4. "My Love" (5:40) how can one not like this beautiful song! Donald Smith sings a flawless vocal over a great musical tapestry of support. This is a song I would love to see live--to dance with my beautiful wife to. Lonnie's piano playing is absolutely perfect for this, and the two-key motif so lovely and romantic--with the usual awesome work of the rhythm & percussion team beneath. (9.25/10)

Total time: 39:08

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of early Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary / Smooth Jazz.

FunkFreak75 With this album we can see how Jazz-Rock Fusion's growing infatuation with Funk has taken bliss-master Lonnie Liston Smith and his Cosmic Echoes on a detour.

A1. "Cosmic Funk" (5:35) combine SLY AND THE FAMILY STONES' "Thank You (Falettinme be Mice Elf)" with RARE EARTH's "I Just Want to Celebrate" and this is what you might get. Cool, funky, and expressive (especially through Donald Smith's impassioned vocals) but a little repetitive and drawn out. (8.75/10)

A2. "Footprints" (6:08) a cover of a Wayne Shorter song, what starts out fairly mellow, turns into something more in tune with the old jazz sounds and stylings from which Lonnie emerged in the 1960s. Not really J-R Fusion or Cosmic Bliss, the song is dominated by George Barron's traditional sounding jazz saxophone expressions as well as Lonnie's piano. (8.5/10)

A3. "Beautiful Woman" (6:57) sounds like a piano version of Marvin Gaye's spiritually-uplifting What's Going On-era music over which Donald Smith gives a very nice, smooth LEON THOMAS-like performance. As usual, we get great percussion and accompaniment from the rhythm section as well as some gentle support from George Barron's winds. (13.75/15)

B1. "Sais (Egypt)" (8:15) with this song that is credited to percussionist MTUME, now we're moving back toward the hypnotic kosmische musik of Lonnie's niche-defining debut solo album, Astral Traveling. Bassist Al Anderson and the percussion team of Andrew Cyrille, Doug Hammond, Ron Bridgewater, Lawrence Killian, and drummer Art Gore establish a TRAFFIC "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" motif for George Barron to solo over with his reverbed soprano sax while Lonnie employs a heavily-echoed Fender Rhodes while his left-handed piano chords add a steady fullness to the rhythm track. When Lonnie takes the lead somewhere in the fourth minute the percussionists use the spacey foundation to go on a tear of show-off playing, but then George returns in the sixth minute to settle them down a bit. The music thins in the seventh minute leaving Lonnie and Al Anderson's bass more exposed--which they kind of take advantage of (but not really). (13.5/15)

B2. "Peaceful Ones" (5:03) Another beautiful and mesmerizing sonic field (with a repeating killer key change every 30-seconds or so!) supports Donald Smith's beautiful message of hope and love, sung in a gorgeous upper register voice. Metal percussion tinkles away with the congas, drums and others but far more gently than an the previous songs. The melodies, chords, and key changes feel as if they were stolen by Bruce Cockburn for his 1991 hit "The Charity of Night." Cosmically beautiful! (14.75/15)

B3. "Naima" (4:02) a cover of a famous John Coltrane song receives the Goddess worship treatment from vocal/lyricist Donald Smith. A beautiful rendition. (9.25/10)

Total time: 35:00

I have the feeling that Lonnie and or/this album in particular was one of the inspirations for Freddie Hubbard and Al Jarreau's collaboration on their 1979 song,"Little Sunflower."

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Jazz-Rock Fusion. Highly recommended to all who love to move with a little funk before wallow in the beauty of bliss.

FunkFreak75 Fresh out of his rotating apprenticeships with Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, and Stanley Turrentine (after cutting his milk teeth with Betty Carter, Roland Kirk, and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers), keyboard master Lonnie Liston Smith might be the all-time king of serious jazz-musicians who turned almost exclusively toward the creation of absolutely beautiful, positive, stress-reducing mood music.

A1. "Astral Traveling" (5:30) an awesomely soothing bass and percussion groove (using several classical Indian instruments) over which Lonnie plays an incredibly spacious echoing Fender Rhodes. The interplay of tabla, tambura, two congas, and drums is sublime! George Barron is invited in to introduce an absolutely to-the-core soothing melody on his soprano saxophone--and then he provides the finishing recapitulation in the final minute. But the most amazing sorcerer in this magical song is bass player Cecil McBee. What an amazing song! What vision! Sheer perfection or beyond! (11/10) A2. "Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord" (6:30) a veritable shower of exotic percussion and electric piano within which George Barron soothes and woos us with his sublime saxophone play. (9.25/10)

A3. "Rejuvenation" (5:50) with piano and a more-traditional jazz combo core, this song sounds a lot like a joyful, whimsical Latinized take on some Vince Guaraldi Peanuts music. So eminently enjoyable and good-feeling! This is the kind of music you want playing in your kids environment: skating on the outdoor rink, playing nighttime basketball on the driveway beneath the floodlights, receiving them when they return from school each day. There's also quite a little borrowed in Lonnie's piano chord play from McCoy Tyner's piano play on John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things." How do you go better than that? (9.5/10)

B1. "I Mani (Faith)" (6:10) with its long, lingering opening intro, this one sounds very much like something from the John Coltrane/Pharoah Sanders/Alice Coltrane school of improvisational jazz. George really gets to stretch out on this one--entering some kind of free-jazz transcendental "zone" in the third minute--which he sustains over the next two minutes as the wind-on-the-lake cacophony of the introductory barrage continues. In the fifth minute, then, the surface of the lake begins to smooth and George follows suit, drifting inexorably back down to Earth like an autumn leaf. (9/10)

B2. "In Search Of Truth" (7:04) another soothing groove that conjures up cosmic connections even more than anything I've ever heard from Germany's Kosmische Musik musicians and songs. Once again the employment of Indian instruments (the droning tambura and tabla mixed in with the congas) secures the hypnotic portal required for pure transcendence. (15/15)

B3. "Aspirations" (4:20) an exploration of beauty through the pulsations of Lonnie's chorused electric piano, tout seul. Perhaps this was music that inspired VANGELIS for some of his beautiful soundtrack music for Blade Runner et al. Perhaps it even inspired Fred Rogers (or, more accurately, Fred's virtuoso pianist music director, Johnny Costa) to bring a Fender Rhodes (or Fender Rhodes-like sound) into his studio for his episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Lonnie's song here definitely conveys the life-affirming that seems to have become his adoptive message and raison d'être. (9/10)

Total time: 35:24

A/five stars; an absolute masterpiece of genre-expanding Jazz-Rock Fusion--one that proclaimed the fact that there is plenty of room in the Jazz and Jazz-Rock Fusion worlds for music that strives to effectively raise spiritual consciousness not just express the player(s)' cosmic ecstasy. Highly recommended to all music lovers--and especially to those who like to use music to reach higher states of spiritual receptivity.