New York, April 1974. Lonnie Liston Smith had spent the previous years with Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis, and had made Astral Traveling for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman the year before. Cosmic Funk is the second record, and the one where the Cosmic Echoes become a band: Donald Smith, Lonnie's brother, on vocals, flute and piano, George Barron on soprano and flute, Al Anderson on electric bass, Art Gore on drums, Lawrence Killian on congas, with Andrew Cyrille, Doug Hammond and Ron Bridgewater adding percussion.
The title says where it was heading. Fresh Sound suggests Herbie Hancock's Headhunters as the likely prompt, and hhv magazine hears the opening track as a continuation of the On the Corner sessions Smith had played on with Davis. But the rest is not one thing. Wayne Shorter's Footprints is taken as a relaxed Latin groove that points ahead to Expansions. Beautiful Woman introduces Donald's voice. James Mtume's Sais (Egypt) runs over eight minutes. The record ends with John Coltrane's Naima sung, which Real Gone's reissue notes describe as the first Cosmic Echoes album with vocals, and hhv as an unexpectedly personal close.
Japanese CD edition from Solid's Flying Dutchman series.
