Cosmic Funk

Cosmic Funk is an album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded in 1974 and released by the Flying Dutchman label.^[2]

Cosmic Funk
Studio album by Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes
Released	1974
Recorded	April 1974
Studio	New York City
Genre	Jazz-funk[1]
Length	35:41
Label	RCA/Flying Dutchman BDL 1-0591
Producer	Bob Thiele
Lonnie Liston Smith chronology
Astral Traveling (1973) Cosmic Funk (1974) Expansions (1975)

Jason Heller, in Strange Stars: How Science Fiction and Fantasy Transformed Popular Music, pointed to the title track as an example of "sci-fi funk."^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]

In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated, "it's a record where the good ideas are sometimes suggested rather than developed. ... That opening song is one of the few tracks that emphasizes funk, otherwise the cosmic reigns, as the group usually getting spacy all the while never quite leaving the earth. ... the album is distinguished by the spaces that lie between funk and bop, the periods where Smith and company start to float, then pull themselves back."^[4]

Record Collector called the album "funky spiritual jazz."^[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Lonnie Liston Smith except where noted

1. "Cosmic Funk" − 5:35
2. "Footprints" (Wayne Shorter) − 6:08
3. "Beautiful Woman" − 6:57
4. "Sais (Egypt)" (James Mtume) − 8:15
5. "Peaceful Ones" − 5:03
6. "Naima" (John Coltrane) − 4:02

Personnel

• Lonnie Liston Smith − piano, electric piano, percussion
• Donald Smith − vocals, flute, piano
• George Barron − soprano saxophone, flute, percussion
• Al Anderson − electric bass
• Art Gore − drums
• Lawrence Killian − congas, percussion
• Andrew Cyrille, Doug Hammond, Ron Bridgewater − percussion

References

1. Gorton, TJ (July 30, 2018). "BeatCaffeine's 100 Best Jazz-Funk Songs". BeatCaffeine. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
2. Flying Dutchman Label Discography accessed November 22, 2019
3. Heller, Jason (June 5, 2018). Strange Stars: How Science Fiction and Fantasy Transformed Popular Music. Melville House. ISBN 9781612196985 – via Google Books.
4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Lonnie Liston Smith: Cosmic Funk – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
5. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. pp. 558–559.
6. "Reflections Of A Golden Dream - Record Collector Magazine". recordcollectormag.com.