''Cosmic Funk'' is an album by keyboardist

Lonnie Liston Smith Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of ...

, featuring performances recorded in 1974 and released by the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the Dutch Golden Age, 17th-century Gold ...

label. Jason Heller, in ''Strange Stars: How Science Fiction and Fantasy Transformed Popular Music'', pointed to the title track as an example of "sci-fi funk."

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated, "it's a record where the good ideas are sometimes suggested rather than developed. ... That opening song is one of the few tracks that emphasizes funk, otherwise the cosmic reigns, as the group usually getting spacy all the while never quite leaving the earth. ... the album is distinguished by the spaces that lie between funk and bop, the periods where Smith and company start to float, then pull themselves back." ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' called the album "funky spiritual jazz."

Track listing

All compositions by Lonnie Liston Smith except where noted # "Cosmic Funk" − 5:35 # "

Footprints Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. They ...

" (

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

) − 6:08 # "Beautiful Woman" − 6:57 # "Sais (Egypt)" (

James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working ...

) − 8:15 # "Peaceful Ones" − 5:03 # "

Naima "Naima" ( ) is a jazz ballad composed by John Coltrane in 1959 that he named after his then-wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs. Coltrane first recorded it for his 1959 album '' Giant Steps'', and it became one of his first well-known works. History Co ...

" (

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and rai ...

) − 4:02

Personnel

− piano, electric piano, percussion *Donald Smith − vocals, flute, piano *George Barron − soprano saxophone, flute, percussion *Al Anderson − electric bass *Art Gore − drums *Lawrence Killian − congas, percussion *

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographe ...

Doug Hammond Doug Hammond (born December 26, 1942) is an American free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, composer, poet, producer, and professor. His first major release was ''Reflections in the Sea of Nurnen'' on Tribe Records in 1975. Career He has worked ...

, Ron Bridgewater − percussion

References

{{Authority control 1974 albums Albums produced by Bob Thiele Flying Dutchman Records albums RCA Records albums Jazz-funk albums Lonnie Liston Smith albums