Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes

• Expansions [Flying Dutchman, 1974] C+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Expansions [Flying Dutchman, 1974]
I enjoyed the directness of this at first--piano improvisations striding over solid multi-percussion, in the spirit of Smith's former leader, Gato Barbieri, without the manic harshness. Then I begin to hanker for some harshness. It's not just the strings, which are at least as intelligent as, say, Alice Coltrane's, and less ubiquitous. It's also the rhythms themselves, serving a purpose so expanded and cosmic that it's not even spiritual anymore, thus rendering their connection to the body irrelevant. C+