This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)

Coordinates: 51°25′40″N 0°07′25″W / 51.4279°N 0.1235°W / 51.4279; -0.1235

Streatham
Streatham Green
Streatham  Streatham shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ305715
London borough	Lambeth
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SW16, SW2
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Streatham
London Assembly	Lambeth and Southwark
List of places: UK • England • London

Streatham ( /ˈstrɛtəm/) is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.^[1]

History[link]

Streatham means "the hamlet on the street". The street in question, the London to Brighton Way, was the Roman Road from the capital Londinium to the coast near Portslade. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to coastal erosion, which has been tentatively identified with the 'Novus Portus' mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia.^[2] The road is confusingly referred to as Stane Street in some sources, although it diverges from the main London-Chichester road at Kennington.

After the departure of the Romans, the main road through Streatham remained an important trackway. From the seventeenth century it was adopted as the main coach road to Croydon and East Grinstead, and then on to Newhaven and Lewes. In 1780 it then became the route of the turnpike road from London to Brighton, and subsequently became the basis for the modern A23. This road (and its traffic) have shaped Streatham's development.

Streatham's first parish church, St Leonard's, dates back to Saxon times, although only the mediaeval tower remains in the present church. The mediaeval parish covered an extensive area, including most of modern Balham and parts of Tooting.

Streatham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Estreham. It was held by Bec-Hellouin Abbey (in Normandy) from Richard de Tonbrige. Its domesday assets were: 2 hides and 1 virgates; 6½ ploughs, 4 acres (16,000 m²) of meadow, and herbage. It rendered £4 5s 0d.^[3]

The village remained largely unchanged until the 18th century, when the village's natural springs, known as Streatham Wells, were first celebrated for their health-giving properties. The reputation of the spa, and improved turnpike roads, attracted wealthy City of London merchants and others to build their country residences in Streatham. Few of these large houses still remain, as the area was rapidly urbanised as London expanded.

Streatham Park or Streatham Place[link]

In the 1730s, Streatham Park, a Georgian country mansion, was built by the brewer Ralph Thrale on land he bought from the Lord of the Manor - the fourth Duke of Bedford. Streatham Park later passed to Ralph's son Henry Thrale, who with his wife Hester Thrale entertained many of the leading literary and artistic characters of the day, most notably the lexicographer Samuel Johnson. The dining room contained 12 portraits of Henry's guests painted by his friend Joshua Reynolds. These pictures were wittily labelled by Fanny Burney as the Streatham Worthies.^[4]

Streatham Park was later leased to Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, and was the venue for early negotiations with France that lead to the Peace Treaty of 1783. Streatham Park was demolished in 1863.

Park Hill[link]

One large house that survives is Park Hill, on the north side of Streatham Common, rebuilt in the early 19th century for the Leaf family. It was latterly the home of Sir Henry Tate, sugar refiner, benefactor of local libraries across south London, including Streatham Library, and founder of the Tate Gallery at Millbank.

Urbanisation[link]

Development accelerated after the opening of Streatham Hill railway station on the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway in 1856. The other two railway stations followed within fifteen years. Some estates, such as Telford Park to the west of Streatham Hill, were spaciously planned with facilities like tennis clubs.^[5] Despite the local connections to the Dukes of Bedford, there is no link to the contemporary Bedford Park in west London. Another generously sized development was Roupell Park, the area near Christchurch Road promoted by the Roupell family. Other streets adopted more conventional suburban layouts. Three more parish churches were built to serve the growing area, including Immanuel and St Andrews (1854), St Peter (1870) and St Margaret the Queen (1889). There is now a mixture of buildings from all architectural eras of the past 200 years.

The inter-war period[link]

After the First World War Streatham developed as a location for entertainment, with Streatham Hill Theatre (now a bingo hall), three cinemas, the Locarno ballroom (latterly Caesar's nightclub, which closed in 2010) and Streatham Ice Rink all adding to its reputation as "the West End of South London". With the advent of electric tram services it also grew as a shopping centre serving a wide area to the south. In the 1930s large numbers of blocks of flats were constructed along High Road. These speculative developments were not initially successful. They were only filled when émigré communities began to arrive in London after leaving countries under the domination of Hitler's Germany. In 1932 the parish church of the Holy Redeemer was built in Streatham Vale to commemorate the work of William Wilberforce.^[6]

Retail decline and recovery[link]

Pratts department store in summer 1978

In the 1950s Streatham had the longest and busiest shopping street in south London. Streatham became the site of the UK's first supermarket, when Express Dairies Premier Supermarkets opened its first 2,500 square feet (230 m²) store in 1951;^[7] Waitrose subsequently opened its first supermarket in Streatham in 1955.

However, a combination of factors led to a gradual decline through the 1970s and a more rapid decline in the 1980s. These included long term population movements out to Croydon, Kingston and Sutton; the growth of heavy traffic on the A23 (main road from central London to Gatwick Airport and Brighton), and a lack of redevelopment sites in the town centre. This culminated in 1990 when the closure of Pratts - a department store, which had grown from a Victorian draper's shop, and had been operated since the 1940s by the John Lewis Partnership - coincided with the opening of a large Sainsbury's supermarket 1 km south of the town centre, replacing an old, smaller Sainbury's store opposite Streatham Hill station.

More recently Sainsbury's opened smaller 'Local' branches on the High Road and on Streatham Hill, near the site of the Streatham's first Sainsbury store (opened in 1895). Several recent additions, such as Argos, Lidl and Peacocks, are located in new retail spaces on the site of Pratts' but in common with other outer London high streets, retail recovery has been slow, and a substantial proportion of vacant space has been taken by a growing number of restaurants, bars and coffee shops. In August 2011 Streatham was selected as one of the areas to benefit from Round 1 of the Mayor of London's Outer London Fund^[8].

Contemporary Streatham[link]

Streatham Green

In September 2002, Streatham High Road was voted the "Worst Street in Britain"^[9] in a poll organised by the BBC Today programme and CABE. This largely reflected the dominance of through traffic along the High Road.

Plans for investment and regeneration had begun before the poll, with local amenity group The Streatham Society leading a successful partnership bid for funding from central government for environmental improvements. Work started in winter 2003-04 with the refurbishment of Streatham Green and repaving and relighting of the High Road between St Leonard's Church and the Odeon Cinema. In 2005 Streatham Green won the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association 'London Spade' award for best public open space scheme in the capital.

The poll was a catalyst for Lambeth London Borough Council and Transport for London's Street Management to co-operate on a joint funding arrangement for further streetscape improvements, which benefited The Dip between St Leonard's and Streatham station and the stretch north of the Odeon as far as Woodbourne Avenue. However, further spending has currently been halted because of TfL's budgetary shortfall.

Streatham Festival was established in 2002. It has grown to a festival with over 50 events held in an array of locations, from bars to churches and parks to youth centres, attracting over 3,000 people.

After several years of delay and controversy over phasing, construction started in the autumn of 2011 on the Streatham Hub - a major redevelopment next to Streatham railway station. The project is a joint development by Lambeth Council and Tesco.

The Streatham Hub project involves the demolition of Streatham Ice Arena, Streatham Leisure Centre and the former Streatham Bus Garage, and their replacement with a new leisure centre and a Tesco store with 250 flats above it. The leisure centre will be owned by Lambeth and will have an ice rink on the upper floors with a sports hall, gym and swimming pool on the levels below. Streatham Leisure Centre had been closed since November 2009 due to health and safety concerns when part of the pool hall ceiling collapsed. ^[10] Streatham Ice Arena closed on December 18 2011, having celebrated eighty years of operation in February 2011. The new ice rink and leisure centre are scheduled to open in late 2013. During the closure period, a temporary ice rink is operating at Popes Road in Brixton.

Local sport[link]

• Streatham Redskins (ice hockey)
• Dulwich Hamlet F.C.
• South London Storm (rugby league)
• Streatham-Croydon RFC
• There is an annual kite fair on Streatham Common

Local places of worship[link]

The "twin spires" at the centre of Streatham, visible from the top of Streatham Common are:

• St Leonard's Church (Church of England) - the historic parish church
• English Martyrs church (Roman Catholic)

Other places of worship include:

• Christ Church, Streatham Hill (Church of England)
• Holy Redeemer Church, Streatham Vale (Church of England)
• St Margaret the Queen, Cricklade Avenue, Streatham Hill (Church of England)
• St Peter's Church, Streatham (Church of England)
• St Simon and St Jude, Hillside Road, Streatham Hill (Roman Catholic)
• Streatham Baptist Church, Lewin Road
• Hambro Road Baptist Church
• Streatham Methodist Church, Riggindale Road
• New Covenant Church, Pendennis Road
• Islamic Centre, Estreham Road (Shi’a)
• Streatham Mosque, Mitcham Lane (Deobandi Sunni)
• South London Synagogue, Leigham Court Road (United Synagogue)
• South London Liberal Synagogue, Prentis Road (Liberal Judaism)

Notable residents[link]

The first Mayor of London and former head of the GLC Ken Livingstone spent most of his childhood in Streatham.

The only official English Heritage blue plaque in central Streatham is on the childhood home of composer Arnold Bax in Pendennis Road.

Just within the modern boundaries of Streatham Hill, although historically it was in Norwood, there is also a blue plaque on the house in Lanercost Road where Arthur Mee the writer of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia lived.

Georges Montefiore-Levi (1832-1906), a Belgian inventor, born in Streatham.

Ken Mackintosh, one of the leading dance band leaders of the 1950s and 1960s, lived for many years at 26, South Side, Streatham Common. Drum and bass DJ Grooverider is from Streatham. Mark King (Level 42) lived for several years in the Spinney and Boon Gould (Level 42) lived for several years in Gleneldon Road. Another resident of Gleneldon Road was Gerry Shephard, guitarist with the Glitter Band, who lived at no. 93 until his death in May 2003. Singer Jay Aston lived in Streatham after leaving Bucks Fizz.

Siobhan Dowd, author, lived in Abbotsford Road (1960–1978). Beryl Kingston, popular novelist, lived at Strathbrook Road from 1956–1980 and taught at what was then Rosa Bassett School in Welham Road, and also at Sunnyhill Primary School. Dennis Wheatley, author, was born in Streatham, and lived for a time on Valley Road. Leila Berg, author and journalist, lived for many years at 25, South Side, Streatham Common. Several of her books feature photographs by John Walmsley taken in Streatham, which depict residents of Streatham in their daily lives.

From the world of fashion, Sir Norman Hartnell, dressmaker to the Queen, was born in Streatham. The Dior fashion designer John Galliano spent some of his youth in Streatham, before moving to nearby Dulwich. Naomi Campbell, model, went to Dunraven Comprehensive School and lived in nearby Norbury. TV presenter Sarah Beeny has lived in Streatham for many years.^[11]

Perhaps because of its good late night transport connections to the West End, and the availability of apartments as well as family houses, Streatham and nearby Brixton Hill have attracted entertainers to live in the area since the days of music hall. There is a Streatham Society plaque to the birthplace of comedian Tommy Trinder at 54 Wellfield Road. Others with local connections include actors Roger Moore, Simon Callow, Peter Davison, Nicholas Clay, Neil Pearson and June Whitfield, saucy seaside postcard artist Donald McGill and comedians Eddie Izzard, Jeremy Hardy and Paul Merton. Actor Hywel Bennett lived in Streatham and attended Sunnyhill Primary School, and comedian and broadcaster Roy Hudd lived for a time on Hoadly Road.

Aleister Crowley, spent his teenage years during the 1880s in Streatham at a house opposite the present ice rink. Cynthia Payne made headlines in the 1970s and 1980s with her brothel in Ambleside Avenue. Afghan warlord Zardad Khan lived in Gleneagle Road before his arrest in 2003.

Arthur Anderson, co-founder of P&O and Radical MP, lived in Streatham.

Victorian artist and illustrator Holland Tringham lived in Streatham, and reproductions of his work depicting local scenes can be seen at the pub in Streatham High Road that bears his name.

Nearest places[link]

• Balham
• Brixton
• Clapham Park
• Crystal Palace
• Furzedown
• Mitcham
• Norbury
• Tooting
• Upper Norwood
• West Norwood
• Thornton Heath

Nearest railway stations[link]

• Norbury railway station
• Streatham Common railway station
• Streatham Hill railway station
• Streatham railway station

Constituency[link]

There has been a Streatham constituency of the House of Commons since 1918, when it was carved out of the former Wandsworth constituency. The Member of Parliament for Streatham is Chuka Umunna of the Labour Party, the shadow business secretary.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Streatham Society - local amenity society with active local history group
• Streatham - A 19th Century Dormitory Suburb - history of Suburban Streatham by Graham Gower
• Streatham Art - Artists Studios Open to the Puplic
• Streatham in the Domesday Book

v t e London Borough of Lambeth Districts Brixton Clapham Crystal Palace Gipsy Hill Herne Hill Kennington Lambeth Oval Stockwell Streatham Streatham Hill Tulse Hill Vauxhall Waterloo West Dulwich West Norwood Attractions Imperial War Museum Lambeth Archives Lambeth Palace London Eye Lower Marsh Market Oval Cricket Ground Southbank Centre Royal National Theatre BFI Southbank Royal Festival Hall Queen Elizabeth Hall Purcell Room Hayward Bridges Waterloo Hungerford Lambeth Westminster Vauxhall Parks and open spaces Brockwell Park Jubilee Gardens Kennington Park Norwood Park Constituencies Streatham Vauxhall Dulwich and West Norwood Other topics People Public art Schools The Lambeth Walk

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Lonnie Liston Smith
Lonnie Liston Smith performing live at the Glastonbury Festival, 27th June 2009.
Background information
Born	(1940-12-28)28 December 1940 Richmond, Virginia, United States
Genres	Jazz Soul Funk
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Piano Keyboard
Associated acts	Pharoah Sanders Rahsaan Roland Kirk Betty Carter Gato Barbieri Miles Davis Max Roach

Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. (born December 28, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with notable free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm / smooth jazz and acid jazz genres.

Early Career (1963 - 1973)[link]

Lonnie was born into a musical family; his father was a member of Richmond Gospel music group The Harmonizing Four, and Lonnie remembers groups such as the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers (then featuring a young Sam Cooke) as regular visitors to the house when he was a child. He learned piano, tuba and trumpet in High School and College, graduating from Morgan State University, Baltimore with a Bachelor of Science degree in music education. He has since cited Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis as major influences on his youth. While still a teenager at College, Lonnie became well known locally as a backing vocalist as well as pianist, and played in the Baltimore area with a number of his contemporaries, including Gary Bartz (alto), Grachan Moncur (trombone), and Mickey Bass (bass). He also backed a number of jazz singers such as Betty Carter and Ethel Ennis when, soon after graduating, he began playing live with the house band at the Royal Theater, Baltimore.

In 1963 he moved to New York, and played piano in Betty Carter's band for a year. Early in 1965 Lonnie began playing with Rahsaan Roland Kirk (then known as Roland Kirk), first recording with his band on "Here Comes The Whistleman" (Atlantic, 1965), an album recorded live in NYC, March 14, 1965. A further track from that gig, "Dream" appeared later the same year on Roland Kirk and Al Hibbler's live album "A Meeting Of The Times" (Atlantic, 1965).

Late in 1965 Lonnie joined Art Blakey's sextet, the Jazz Messengers, sharing the piano position with Mike Nock and Keith Jarrett. The Jazz Messengers, together with Miles Davis' group, were one of the main proving grounds for young up-and-coming jazz musicians, experimentally edgy and musically stretching, and both were an ever-revolving door of young modern jazz musicians as modes and moods rapidly changed during a fresh period of experimentation. Beginning with a live session at The Five Spot, New York City, November 9, 1965,^[1] Lonnie's time as a Jazz Messenger was fairly short-term, only lasting until a 3-gig engagement at The Village Vanguard 26–28 April 1966;^[2] by May 1966 his position was filled by Chick Corea. Unfortunately no recordings exist of this period.

In May 1967 Lonnie returned to working with Roland Kirk for the album sessions for "Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith" (Verve,1967) before continuing his career as pianist for a year with drummer Max Roach (although once again no recordings were made of this lineup).

Following this stint, Lonnie moved to Pharaoh Sanders ensemble early in 1968, a group Sanders had set up on the death of John Coltrane the previous year. Fiercely improvisational, Sanders pushed the band to the creatively boundaries of free jazz, recording three of Sanders finest recordings "Karma" (Impulse, 1969), "Jewels of Thought" (Impulse, 1970) and "Thembi" (Impulse, 1971), together with 1969 recording sessions not released until 1973 as "Izipho Zam" (Strata East, 1973). It is at this point that Lonnie began experimenting with electric keyboards:

On Thembi, that was the first time that I ever touched a Fender Rhodes electric piano. We got to the studio in California — Cecil McBee had to unpack his bass, the drummer had to set up his drums, Pharoah had to unpack all of his horns. Everybody had something to do, but the piano was just sitting there waiting. I saw this instrument sitting in the corner and I asked the engineer, 'What is that?' He said, 'That’s a Fender Rhodes electric piano.' I didn’t have anything to do, so I started messing with it, checking some of the buttons to see what I could do with different sounds. All of a sudden I started writing a song and everybody ran over and said, 'What is that?' And I said, 'I don’t know, I’m just messing around.' Pharoah said, 'Man, we gotta record that. Whatcha gonna call it?' I’d been studying astral projections and it sounded like we were floating through space so I said let’s call it 'Astral Traveling.' That’s how I got introduced to the electric piano.^[3]

During this period Lonnie also backed Sanders vocalist Leon Thomas on his first album "Spirits Known and Unknown" (Flying Dutchman, 1969).

Having already guested on Gato Barbieri's 1969 album "The Third World" (Philips, 1969), Lonnie joined Barbieri's band from 1971-73. Barbieri had by then begun to temper his free jazz excursions of the 1960s with softer Afro-Cuban and South American textures in his music, which would influence Lonnie's playing into new directions in the following years. Lonnie played on a number of albums marking this transition, "Fenix" (Philips, 1971), the critically acclaimed live album "El Pampero" (Flying Dutchman, 1972), "Bolivia" (Flying Dutchman, 1973) and "Under Fire" (Flying Dutchman, 1973). One further recording, "El Gato" (Flying Dutchman, 1975), was released after Lonnie had again moved on; from 1972 Lonnie had also taking up the invitation to join Miles Davis band on electric keyboards. Over the next year, during an intense period of studio recording by Davis, various line-ups laid down a considerable number of sessions, which were later inter-cut and remixed for final release. Miles Davis insisted that Lonnie learned to play the organ for the sessions: "Miles gave me two nights to learn how to make music on the thing. Miles liked to introduce new sounds in a surprising way — that's how he produced such innovative, fresh music.".^[4] Lonnie's contributions appear on "On The Corner" (Columbia, 1973) and the track "Ife" on "Big Fun" (Columbia, 1974).

The Cosmic Echoes (1973 - 1985)[link]

While passing through Miles Davis' ever-changing line-up, Lonnie had finally formed his own group, 'Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes' in 1973, together with his partner in Pharoah Sanders group Cecil McBee on bass, George Barron (soprano and tenor sax), Joe Beck (guitar), David Lee, Jr. (drums), James Mtume (percussion), Sonny Morgan (percussion), Badal Roy (tabla drums), and Geeta Vashi (tamboura). Blending atmospheric fusion, soul and funk, Lonnie was encouraged by Bob Thiele, the owner of Flying Dutchman Records, who had produced both Pharaoh Sanders' and Gato Barbieri's output while Lonnie had been in their bands, the latter for Thiele's newly formed label. For his debut album, "Astral Traveling" (Flying Dutchman, 1973), Lonnie re-recorded the title song he had composed and played on with the Pharoah Sanders band two years previous. An instrumental album, "Astral Travelling" also contained a re-arrangement of the Gospel standard "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord," which Lonnie had also previously arranged for Sanders.

The following year Lonnie's brother Donald joined the Cosmic Echoes as vocalist for "Cosmic Funk" (Flying Dutchman, 1974). Although he remained close to his earlier roots with featured versions of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and John Coltrane's "Naima" on this album, by now Lonnie was heading into the smooth jazz funk/fusion style that would dominate his output from here on, with dreamy vocals and long, spacy instrumental passages underlaid by strong funky bass-lines and a distinctive use of light percussion, with a message of peace and tranquillity in both the lyrics and song titles. 'I was trying to expand the consciousness of humanity' explained Lonnie in an interview in 2009.^[5] This attitude may not have endeared Lonnie to the hardcore free jazz fans who had appreciated his earlier work, but this new relaxed fusion style proved extremely popular with a cross-over audience not normally associated with jazz, and the following albums, "Expansions" (Flying Dutchman, 1974), "Visions of a New World" (Flying Dutchman, 1975) and "Reflections of a Golden Dream" (RCA, 1976) have since become semi-legendary mainstays of the jazz-funk and chill jazz genres with djs and audiences worldwide, especially in Europe and Japan. "Renaissance" (RCA, 1977) continued this crossover fame, and the following year Lonnie expanded upon his success with a new contract with Columbia Records and two further acclaimed crossover albums in "Loveland" (Columbia, 1978) and "Exotic Mysteries" (Columbia, 1978), the latter containing the single "Space Princess" which became a disco/r+b hit still popular in clubs today in both 7" and remixed 12" versions. "Space Princess" was written by and featured the thundering basslines of 16-year old Marcus Miller, who was discovered by Lonnie and also wrote the track "Night Flower" on "Exotic Mysteries". A further track from the same album, "Quiet Moments" was to become a mainstay of the smooth jazz genre over the next decade.

After the crossover success of the 1970s, and continuing interest in and discovery of his earlier work by fans of the new 'Quiet storm' late night radio/smooth jazz format, Lonnie moved to Bob Thiele's new label, Doctor Jazz, and had a minor hit in 1983 with "Never too late". He also appeared in Marvin Gaye's backing band at the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival, which has since been released on both cd and DVD (Eagle Vision, 2003). However, public interest slowly waned in his newer material as the decade wore on, and the Cosmic Echoes eventually dissipated during the mid-80's after releasing a further three albums mining the same smooth jazz field "Dreams of Tomorrow" (Doctor Jazz, 1983), "Silhouettes" (Doctor Jazz, 1984) and "Rejuvenation" (Doctor Jazz, 1985).

Later Career (1986 - )[link]

In October 1986 Lonnie moved closer to his musical roots with "Make Someone Happy" (Doctor Jazz, 1986), an acoustic session that included new recordings of several jazz standards by the trio of Lonnie, Cecil McBee and Al Foster, produced by Bob Thiele. However, despite critical acclaim for this work, Lonnie found himself without a recording contract until the turn of the decade, when the small Startrak label released "Love Goddess" (Startrak, 1990) and "Magic Lady" (Startrak, 1991). "I had a lot of idealistic concepts about music, and about the spiritual message I was trying to get across. But most record companies only care about demographics and bottom line sales.".^[4] Both of the Startrak albums marked an about turn to the smooth jazz mode of the Cosmic Echoes period, "Love Goddess" featuring vocalist Phyllis Hyman and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.

Around this time, the emerging hip-hop movement took an interest in Lonnie's earlier work, and he found himself working with rapper Guru, who was mixing hip-hop with jazz in an innovative way. "Guru and the other rappers would tell me how their uncles used to make them listen to me and Miles and Donald Byrd and how they got the message" Smith told Australia's Daily Telegraph Mirror newspaper in 1995.^[6] Smith appeared on Guru's groundbreaking "Jazzmatazz, Vol 1" album (Chrysalis, 1993), once again finding a new audience for his earlier work as a result. He had also toured Europe in 1991, but after this short period of activity Lonnie produced little further work in the 1990s. Despite extensive radio play, appearing on a bewildering number of compilation cds and being namechecked and sampled by an increasing number of younger musicians discovering his Cosmic Echoes output, Lonnie spent the next few years mainly involved in setting up his own label, Loveland, and it wasn't until 1998 that Sony International took advantage of his new found audience by reissuing "Exotic Mysteries" and "Loveland" as a double cd. The same year, Lonnie recorded 'Transformation' (Loveland, 1998), once again revisiting the genre he had been most successful in and reuniting with his brother Donald's vocals. For this release he re-recorded "A Chance For Peace (Give Peace a Chance)" (both as vocal and instrumental versions) and "Expansions" as well as "Space Princess".

Since then Lonnie has not recorded, although he has performed live and toured on a number of occasions, especially in Europe and Japan, were he remains popular with new generations of listeners. He has also spent much of his time teaching at various workshops. In 2002, Sony issued a 2-cd retrospective of his Columbia output "Explorations: The Columbia Years", and his compositions remain a feature of jazz fusion orientated radio and cd compilations. The Cosmic Echoes track, "Expansions" has been featured in two videogames: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Driver: Parallel Lines, while "A Chance for Peace" featured in Grand Theft Auto 4. He most recently appearing on the Jazz World Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2009.

Discography[link]

This discography excludes re-releases under different titles and compilations by other artists/companies featuring previously released work

• 1965 Roland Kirk - Here Comes the Whistleman' (Atlantic)
• 1965 Roland Kirk and Al Hibbler - A Meeting of the Times (Atlantic)
• 1967 Roland Kirk - Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith (Verve)
• 1969 Gato Barbieri - The Third World (Philips)
• 1969 Pharoah Sanders - Karma (Impulse)
• 1969 Leon Thomas - Spirits Known And Unknown (Flying Dutchman)
• 1970 Pharaoh Sanders - Jewels Of Thought (Impulse)
• 1970 Pharaoh Sanders - Summun Bukmun Umyun (Impulse)
• 1971 Pharoah Sanders - Thembi(Impulse)
• 1971 Huey Simmons - Burning Spirits (Contemporary)
• 1971 Stanley Turrentine - Sugar (CTI)
• 1971 Gato Barbieri - Fenix (Philips)
• 1972 Gato Barbieri - El Pampero (Flying Dutchman)
• 1973 Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam (Strata East)
• 1973 Gato Barbieri - Bolivia (Flying Dutchman)
• 1973 Gato Barbieri - Under Fire (Flying Dutchman)
• 1973 Miles Davis - On the Corner (Columbia)
• 1974 Miles Davis - Big Fun (Columbia)
• 1975 Gato Barbieri - El Gato (Flying Dutchman)
• 1975 Oliver Nelson - Skull Session (Flying Dutchman)
• 1977 Mysterious Flying Orchestra - Mysterious Flying Orchestra (RCA)

Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes

• 1973 Astral Traveling (Flying Dutchman)
• 1974 Cosmic Funk (Flying Dutchman)
• 1974 Expansions (Flying Dutchman)
• 1975 Visions of a New World (Flying Dutchman)
• 1976 Reflections of a Golden Dream (RCA)
• 1977 Live! (RCA)
• 1977 Renaissance (RCA)
• 1978 Loveland (Columbia)
• 1978 Exotic Mysteries (Columbia)
• 1979 A Song for the Children (Columbia)
• 1980 Love Is the Answer (Columbia)
• 1983 Dreams of Tomorrow (Doctor Jazz)
• 1984 Silhouettes (Doctor Jazz)
• 1985 Rejuvenation (Doctor Jazz)

Later work

• 1986 Make Someone Happy (Doctor Jazz)
• 1990 Love Goddess (Startrak)
• 1991 Magic Lady (Startrak)
• 1998 Transformation (Import)

• 2002 Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - The Bridge
• 2003 Marvin Gaye - Live in Montreux 1980 (DVD/CD) (Eagle Vision)

Lonnie Liston Smith tracks sampled by other artists[link]

An incomplete list

"Expansions" ::Stetsasonic - "Talkin' All That Jazz"

"Devika (Goddess)" ::Digable Planets - "Pacifics"

"Bridge Through Time" ::Conscious Daughters - "We Roll Deep"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Jay-Z - "Dead Presidents II"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Mary J. Blige - "Take Me as I Am"

"Bridge Through Time" ::Jay-Z - "Understand Me"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Stacie Orrico - "Is It Me"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Total - "Rain"

"A Garden of Peace" ::O.C. - "You and Yours"

"A Garden of Peace" ::ABN-"I Miss My Dawg (I Gotta Survive)"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Nikki Jean - "Exit Sign"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Grifta (Dubstep act) - "Curbside on YouTube"

"A Garden of Peace" ::Duo Infernale - "Feeling Blue"

"Mystical Dreamer (A Tribute To Miles Davis)" ::Three 6 Mafia - "Smoke If U Got It"

"Quiet Moments" ::Scienz Of Life - "Yikes!"

"A Chance for Peace" ::Shape of Broad Minds - "Let's Go"

"A Chance for Peace" ::La Fouine - "Tombé pour elle"

"Quiet Moments" ::Malcolm Mclaren - "World Famous" (Ft. World's Famous Supreme Team)

"A Garden of Peace" ::Young Jeezy - "Leave You Alone" (Ft. Ne-Yo)

References[link]

External links[link]

Note: some of these links confuse Lonnie Smith's work with Lonnie Liston Smith's, and should be used with caution

• Official Website
• Lonnie Liston Smith Myspace page
• Lonnie Liston Smith Bio at Allmusic
• Lonnie Liston Smith discography at Discogs.com
• Short Biography
• Lonnie Liston Smith interview at Allaboutjazz.com