Lonnie Smith: Turning Point (Blue Note Classic series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note Classic series pressing is on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket. Smith's organ leads a stacked band, with Lee Morgan on trumpet and Idris Muhammad on drums, through soul-jazz grooves and a Beatles cover.

This edition

• Blue Note Classic series
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Stereo mix

About the album

The man everyone would come to know as Dr. Lonnie Smith had just one album as a leader behind him when he walked into Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs on January 3, 1969. By the end of the day he had Turning Point in the can, his second album and a confident statement from an organist who could groove hard, stretch out and still leave room for everybody else in the band.

He brought a front line of Lee Morgan, Bennie Maupin on tenor and Julian Priester on trombone, with Melvin Sparks on guitar and Idris Muhammad on drums. "See Saw" turns the Don Covay and Steve Cropper soul tune into a strutting opener, "Slow High" simmers, and "People Sure Act Funny" swings as a trio with Sparks and Muhammad. The title track is Smith's own, and "Eleanor Rigby" gets a long, churning workout. Francis Wolff produced and took the liner photos.

Smith kept playing and recording for another five decades, and the Hammond never lost its swagger. The doctor part came later, though on this evidence the qualifications were already in order.

Also at Kops: more Lonnie Smith on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 5523404), a reissue of the 1969 album.