Lonnie Liston Smith

With Lonnie Liston Smith, what gives me chills is the pedigree: he traded keys with Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders before founding the Cosmic Echoes. Out of Richmond, Virginia, he helped shape fusion, smooth jazz, and acid jazz with records now treated as classics, and you can still hear his cosmic, floating warmth echoing through later club culture. Born in 1940 and still a living reference point, he's a rare figure who persuades through atmosphere rather than flash. His is music made for late nights, played softly. I count him among the genuinely essential pianists, and I keep coming back to him.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Lonnie Liston Smith

Name (Japanese)

ロニー・リストン・スミス

Reading

ろにー・りすとん・すみす

Born

December 28, 1940 (age 85)

Origin

Richmond, Virginia, United States

Occupation

composer / pianist / jazz musician / singer / keyboardist

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Dragon

• Official sitehttps://www.lonnielistonsmith.com
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie%20Liston%20Smith
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B9
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1242553

Tags

• Virginia
• composer
• pianist
• jazz musician

Last updated

September 25, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.