After touring throughout the United States and Europe, the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio will bring its genre-bending artistry to Montgomery County Community College on Saturday, March 22, at 8 p.m. in the Science Center Theater, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. Tickets cost $30 for general admission and $15 for children under age 12. Visit www.mc3.edu/livelyarts or call 215-641-6518 for tickets and information.
An authentic master and guru of the Hammond B-3 organ for more than five decades, Smith is a renowned composer and musician who has been featured on more than 70 albums and recorded and performed with a virtual ‘Who’s Who’ of the greatest jazz, blues and R&B giants in the industry.
As a young singer and trumpet player, the musical renaissance man discovered the organ and never looked back. After playing New York gigs and recording with George Benson, he went out on his own and recorded numerous albums under Blue Note and other labels. With an insatiably eclectic taste in music, Smith has recorded everything from dramatically ethereal original compositions to covers of the Beatles, Stylistics and Eurythmics and tribute albums of Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane. Considered the forefather of acid jazz, he has had his work sampled in several rap, dance and house grooves.
This performance represents the second of two related events known as ‘The Griot and the Mystic,’ with highly regarded jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders as the ‘griot’?a revered African caste member serving as oral historian through story and song?and Smith as the ‘mystic.’ Sanders previously performed on October 12, 2013.
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Photo Courtesy of Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio/Mark Sheldon.
