BST 84313

Lonnie Smith - Turning Point

Released - 1969

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 3, 1969
Lee Morgan, trumpet #1-4; Julian Priester, trombone #1-4; Bennie Maupin, tenor sax #1-4; Lonnie Smith, organ; Melvin Sparks, guitar; Leo Morris, drums.

3307 tk.7 See-Saw
3308 tk.11 Eleanor Rigby
3309 tk.15 Turning Point
3310 tk.19 Slow High
3311 tk.27 People Sure Act Funny

Session Photos

Photos: © Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images 

https://www.mosaicrecordsimages.com/

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
See Saw	Don Covay, Steve Cropper	January 3 1969
Slow High	Lonnie Smith	January 3 1969
People Sure Act Funny	Bobby Robinson, Titus Turner	January 3 1969
Side Two
Eleanor Rigby	John Lennon, Paul McCartney	January 3 1969
Turning Point	Lonnie Smith	January 3 1969

Liner Notes

THREE YEARS AGO a group led by guitarist George Benson was on its way to Detroit to play a night club engagement. I was mainly interested in the work of the leader since I had heard him briefly before with Jack McDuff.

No one seemed to know about the rest of the group except one man. That man was organist Richard '"Groove" Holmes. In addition to praising guitarist Ben- Son, Groove had high praises for his new organist Lonnie Smith. When the group arrived I understood why George had praised him so highly. Many organists sound very similar to me, however, Lonnie has a sound that was immediately identifiable. The man had a likeable personality, seemed to be a happy person and was enthusiastic about his music. All this came through in his playing and it still does. Immediately, I predicted good things would happen for him, but for three years it seems I was wrong in my prediction. Although Lonnie recorded two albums with George Benson and one as a leader little or no comment was heard. Then Blue Note released a Lou Donaldson LP "Alligator Bogaloo" which featured Lonnie Smith on organ. Now comments on him were very strong. Subsequently, he recorded two more albums with Donaldson, "Mr. Shing-A-Ling" and "Midnight Creeper" and interest from listeners grew even greater. By that time, it became apparent to me that Lonnie should have his own LP.

Then it happened. Lonnie's Blue Note LP "Think" was released. We started playing the big tune from the album, Son Of Ice Bag, (along with the other tracks) and our listening audience could not get enough of it. In my nine years In Detroit radio, "Think" along with a Lou Rawls LP of four years ago, are the only albums I have seen sell out in two or three days. Detroit record shops could not keep the LP in stock. "Think" was the biggest selling album in Detroit for 14 weeks. On the strength of the "Think" l_p, Lonnie was brought to Detroit to headline a recent concert (together with Lou Donaldson) and people literally went wild over Lonnie.

Now a word about the other swingers heard on "Turning Point." Lee Morgan, who is a veteran Blue Note artist with man popular albums to his credit, is a favorite in Detroit. While he was on stage at the aforementioned concert, members of the audience were shouting for him to play some of his tunes. Mr. Morgan surely makes his presence felt on this LP. Trombonist Julian Priester is remembered for his work with Max Roach and Art Blakey. Detroiter Bennie Maupin sounds better with each new release. Finally, good things are beginning to happen for him as many Detroiters predicted when he left for New York five years ago. The music played here by guitarist Melvin Sparks will make you take notice. It must be a pleasure to have a drummer like Leo Morris in your section. Morris supplies the spark so important to the success of an LP.

Jazz is a music of many moods and feelings and it's all found here. See Saw, the Don Cova original, was a hit for him and also Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin.

The Smith original Slow High will prove to be the favorite track on the LP for many listeners. It's a medium tempo blues that a lot of swingers I know can really unwind and do their own thing to while listening or dancing.

People Sure Act Funny is a trio track that is very relaxed and remindful of the sound one might hear in a much less than half filled nightclub on a dead Tuesday night, round midnight. "Pour me another taste bartender."

Eleanor Rigby has been recorded numerous times but there is none finer than the presentation found on this LP. The melodic line expresses a feeling of sadness. Especially attractive is the interlude played before the melody and before Lonnie's solo. Maupin's solo shows that he's maturing, learning the value of being economical with the notes he plays. Lee Morgan displays the highly individual sound that has made him what he is today. Eleanor Rigby contains all the ingredients that made Son Of Ice Bag a Lonnie Smith trademark.

Lonnie seems to have a penchant for getting you into a relaxing mood by easing into a tune slowly before transposing your mood into a swinging groove. He does it here on the title tune, Turning Point, a Lonnie Smith original. This is a straight down the middle swinger that allows room for all the soloists to stretch out and play.

I have been living with an advance copy of this LP for five days and I must say that it was a pleasure. I'm sure Lonnie has another hit album with "Turning Point."

— ED LOVE, WCHD-FM, Detroit, Michigan

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT TURNING POINT

There has never been a single Blue Note sound. One key to the label's legendary status was the ability of label founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff to bring musicians together from supposedly separate realms and create ensembles where that very diversity proved inspirational. This session is a fine example of the good music that could result when three players, each from the funk and the straight-ahead side, got together and did it the Blue Note way.

The rhythm section of organist/leader Lonnie Smith, guitarist Melvin Sparks, and drummer Idris Muhammad (then known as Leo Morris, as Ed Love's original liner notes indicate) was as funky as they came. At least two of the three were present on almost every one of Lou Donaldson's Blue Note dates from this period of the saxophonist's career, with all three heard on part of his Everything I Play Is Funky album; and each sustained the soulful feeling as leaders of their own sessions. Nearly four decades later, all three are still among the first-call players when music of this style is on the agenda, with Smith still a Donaldson mainstay; but they also regularly display their adaptability in other settings. Muhammad, for instance, is equally at home in support of Ahmad Jamal, where he occupies the chair once filled by another New Orleans native, Vernel Fournier.

In contrast, the horn players represented the envelope-pushing wing of hard bop at the time, Not that anyone doubted Lee Morgan's soulfulness, but by the late '60s his music had taken on more daring harmonic and rhythmic contours, One of his primary partners in these investigations between 1968 and '70 was Bennie Maupin, the young Detroit saxophonist who also worked with Roy Haynes and Horace Silver in this period, but truly blossomed, as both soloist and composer, on Morgan's memorable 1970 Live at the Lighthouse sessions. Maupin followed his Morgan tenure by joining the Herbie Hancock Sextet, which already included trombonist Julian Priester, and took an even more exploratory approach to its material. It is a credit to Morgan, Maupin, and Priester that they could function in this more direct and blues-centered setting with true conviction and without sacrificing their personal voices.

It helped immeasurably, of course, that the rhythm section created a feeling that was both comfortable and propulsive, that Smith had a knack for selecting the right tempo for each piece, and that the hit songs he chose to cover had an integrity that inspired rather than hand-cuffed improvisers, Consider "Eleanor Rigby," which had already received a slew of makeovers from such diverse folk as Ray Charles, Sonny Criss, the Jazz Crusaders, Morgana King, Wes Montgomery, Kai Winding, and Young-Holt Unlimited (and, shortly after this recording, Count Basie and Oscar Peterson), among many others. One would need a deep record collection and a lot of listening time to confirm Love's claim that "there is none finer" than this "Rigby", but it is doubtful that any of the other jazz versions give as leeway to the musicians while still retaining the lyrical mystery of the original.

In retrospect„ it appears that this very balance of groove and openness could not be sustained in an era when musicians found themselves faced with a choice between challenge and accessibility. Many, including Morgan, occasionally found themselves crossing the line if for no reason than economic necessity (the trumpeter's last studio appearance was as a sideman with Charles Earland, another organist who came to prominence with Lou Donaldson), but as a rule one either took it further out or further in. Smith definitely retreated from the more venturesome aspects of performances such as "Slow High" and the title track on his net few albums, and then had to face a sea-change which the Hammond B-3 organ was considered passe as newer and more portable electric keyboards became the rage. It is instructive that when the now self-accredited "Dr. Lonnie Smith got the chance to record again as a leader in the "90s after a long hiatus, he used iconoclastic guitarist John Abercrombie for some very open-minded takes on Jimi Hendrix's music. Smith has never abandoned funk, but he keeps us that it is only part of what he does. A session like Turning Point therefore stands out as one of more complete presentations of what Lonnie Smith is all about.

- Bob Blumenthal, 2005