Lonnie Smith

CD version. Turning Point is the second Blue Note album by the organist Lonnie Smith, recorded at Van Gelder Studio on 3 January 1969 and released the same year. Smith had come to the label as a sideman on Lou Donaldson's soul jazz records of the late 1960s, such as Alligator Bogaloo and Midnight Creeper. His own dates as a leader began in 1968 with Think! Here he widened the frame, setting his Hammond B3 against a three-horn front line.

The sextet had Lee Morgan on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone and Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone. Melvin Sparks played guitar, and the drummer was Leo Morris, the propulsive player who later recorded as Idris Muhammad. Francis Wolff produced the session.

Three of the five tracks are covers. The album opens with a hard-grooving take on See Saw, the Don Covay song that had been a hit for Aretha Franklin the year before. People Sure Act Funny is taken at a laid-back tempo, and the band reworks The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby over more than nine minutes, giving it a strong dose of soul. Smith's own Slow High smoulders, and the title piece starts with a rubato organ introduction before the band shifts into high gear.

In his AllMusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine pointed to the more adventurous elements of the record as its main interest, while placing it a step below Smith's harder-grooving sessions. The long tracks, two of them past eight minutes, leave plenty of room for solos from the three horns, the guitar and the organ.

This is the Japanese Ultimate High Quality CD from Universal Music Japan (UCCQ-9682, 2024), remastered by Kevin Gray. It comes in a jewel case with obi, with the original sleeve notes by Ed Love reproduced on the back inlay.