Lonnie Liston Smith is a contented man when we speak, and no wonder. Born into a musical family in Richmond, Virginia, in 1940, the pianist and keyboard player synonymous with the quiet storm sound played with more pioneering jazz icons than you can wave a flugelhorn at before pushing things forward with his own group, The Cosmic Echoes. To celebrate Lonnie Liston Smith & The New Cosmic Echoes arriving in Australia for a pair of Red Bull Music Presents shows in Sydney (tickets and details here) and Melbourne (tickets and details here), we revisit the 2015 interview where Smith told us about his career-defining moments
On hearing Charlie Parker for the first time
When I heard Charlie Parker With Strings, that's when I decided I had to play jazz. It was improvisation; it was everything. Before that it was just gospel, blues and doo-wop. My two younger brothers sang in all kinds of doo-wop groups growing up, but when I heard Charlie Parker it was mind-blowing. He could play all that music, but he improvised and created spontaneously. Even when a musician is real good, when they improvise and make it sound beautiful, as if it were planned. That's real talent.
On getting together with Pharoah Sanders
I'd been with all the singers, but then I heard Pharoah. It sounded like he was playing more than one note and at that time I was trying to get more out of an acoustic grand piano, using a forearm to get a bigger sound. I said to Pharoah, "How you getting all that sound?" He said; "Yeah, but you sound like you're playing with more than ten fingers!" He used to go as far out as he could, but I used to say, 'Farrell, we should bring it back, we don't want people hanging out there in space'. He was being led by Sun Ra – he gave him the name Pharaoh – and he just stays out there. Sun Ra just kept going and expanding.
On the quiet storm sound
It's real smooth. The energy's still there, we're still playing real hard, but the music is beautiful, improvised, and it's not punching you. When I was writing Quiet Moments [from Exotic Mysteries, 1978], I was looking out the window at all the beautiful flowers and I started playing and thought, wow, this is a quiet moment. You can't rip and race all the time, you have to slow down and meditate. That's the quiet storm.
On playing Miles Davis’ On the Corner sessions
I walked in – I'd never met Miles – and see two other keyboard players, Herbie [Hancock] and another guy. So I stand against a wall and wait. I didn't realise Miles wanted all three of us to play simultaneously! He sees me standing there and he's like, "What are you bleep-bleep-bleep standing around for?" Miles is beautiful but he's blunt, that's what made you strong – everyone who played with Miles, after they left they always formed their own band.
On finding a new audience courtesy of hip hop
I got a call from EMI saying, Guru's got this concept, he wants to do Blue Note covers. The record came out and people went crazy. MTV has nothing to do with jazz, but they called us saying we got to have you on, this is history – rap meets jazz. And when I heard Jay-Z, Young Jeezy and Mary J Blige sampled A Garden Of Peace it blew me away. I can understand someone sampling Expansions, which has a beat, but A Garden Of Peace? That's real smooth, no drums. I really love the arrangements on Mary J Blige's Take Me As I Am. That was strings, everything. Then Jay-Z. They say Dead Presidents helped push Jay-Z out front.
Red Bull Music Presents Lonnie Liston Smith & The New Cosmic Echoes, performing at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal on Thursday August 23 and Melbourne's Night Cat on Saturday August 25.