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Lonnie Liston SmithArticle from Music Technology, May 1993 |
In a career spanning 30 years, including stints with Art Blakey and Miles Davis and a string of hit fusion albums, Lonnie Liston Smith has seen the changing role of the jazz pianist at first hand. In London for a rare live outing, Lonnie talks keyboards while Simon Trask clicks his fingers, shuts his eyes and goes "yeahhh"
In the '70s he was expanding minds and delighting feet with his unique brand of deep, moody jazz fusion. Now veteran keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith is showing a new generation of dance musicians how to do it live...
"The first Miles recording session I went to was with Herbie Hancock and another guy, and it was three keyboards, so I assumed that we were all supposed to play at different times. I'd never played with more than one keyboard before in my life, but Miles, he was like 'What the fuck are you waiting for?'. So he had three keyboard players, and we all played at once. You've got to listen, 'cos you can't get in one another's way. It was a good challenge, doing things you normally wouldn't do. But then of course that makes you stronger. If you notice, everyone that left Miles' band formed their own band, 'cos when Miles got through with you you'd been through it all!"
Think of keyboard players in the 70s - especially those working in jazz and its various mutations and cross-fertilisations - and one instrument springs readily to mind: the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Lonnie first discovered the Rhodes in 1971, at the recording session for Pharoah Sanders' album Thembi. Not only did he promptly fall in love with it, but he promptly made use of it on a track for the album which he composed on the spot, 'Astral Traveller.'
The Rhodes remained Lonnie's central keyboard throughout the 70s. He used a Suitcase 88 model with the standard speakers replaced by JBLs. In addition he routed the Rhodes' output through a chorus box, a wah-wah pedal and an Echoplex. Other staples of his 70s setup were a Hohner Clavinet and an ARP String Ensemble (both of which were eventually stolen while they were set up for a gig at the Village Vanguard in New York).
Today, the Rhodes which many a young British jazz/funk keyboard player would kill for resides in the basement of Lonnie's parents' house in Richmond, Virginia (pilgrimage time, anyone?). Lonnie's current live setup consists of a Roland D70 synth sitting atop a Roland RD300 digital piano. Having seen him play a couple of gigs last year, at the Jazz Cafe and The Orange in London, I'm struck by how warm a tone he's able to coax from these digital instruments - though, call me a traditionalist, his classic warm Rhodes sound from the 70s has yet to be bettered.
These days, it's not only 'Expansions' which gets sampled. Lonnie is an ever more sampled musician, a state of affairs he has no objection to - so long as he gets paid and he gets recognition. Fortunately, it seems, most people do it right. And yes, Stetsasonic did seek permission and they did pay - a one-off sum which, to Lonnie's best recollection, was in the range 3500 to 5000 dollars. Today, more clued up on the ins and outs of the legal situation, he goes for a percentage of royalties.
Lonnie's attitude to modern technology is a typically healthy one from such an open-minded and inquisitive musician.
"Technology is great if the artists know what to do with it. When people started playing electric guitar, that was technology, then all of a sudden they found out what to do with it, and you had all these different styles and all these great guitarists. Jimi Hendrix really showed you what you could do.
"So now I think with all these synthesisers, which are just another form of technology, the same thing is going to happen. The artist has got to take control, learn how to use the technology of today like people learnt how to use the electric guitar, and make an artform out of it."
He feels that it's important for youngsters to get to grips with technology from an early age, but at the same time to go out and learn to play live - strive to achieve a balance, if you like, between the bedroom and the boardwalk!
"You can learn things easier and faster when you're younger," he opines. "All the acoustic instruments, I'm afraid, might disappear in the 21st century, but the technology's not going to go away. So I'd say learn all that technology, but at least try to make some artform out of it."
And his model of a good modern musician?
"I was talking with Marcus Miller recently, and he's known for playing electric bass, but I know he also went out and bought himself an upright bass and he practices on it. He definitely knows how to use all these synthesisers and the sequencers and stuff - but he knows how to play live, too. So that's a good example, and all the young kids have got to realise that. They should also realise that we human beings, we have the magic - the machines can only sit there waiting for us to do whatever we're going to do with our creative imagination."
Interview by Simon Trask
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