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Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio

Shawn

By Shawn
in Live Shows & Festivals

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sheldonm Newbie

sheldonm

Posted
Posted

tell him to come to Arizona !!!!

Not this time of year.. TOO HOT !!!

...hell, he's due here in Indy in a couple weeks and we're still in the low-mid 90s....with plenty of humidity to go around!

m

  • 2 weeks later...
Shawn Newbie

Shawn

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The show was FANTASTIC! Dr. Lonnie is friggin' force of nature and put on a very energetic set that clocked in a little over 90 minutes. He featured quite a few tracks from Jungle Soul and Too Damn Hot, as well as a couple new songs from his "forthcoming album". He's definitely still on top of his game and acts like a guy at least 20 years younger than he actually is.

I was having too much fun to catalog a set list but a few highlights...

"Just Squeeze Me"; slow ballad reading that ended up rather outside by the finale...I'd love a copy of this arrangement.

"Sweet Dreams"; the Eurythmics song treated to a rather dark, moody arrangement.

"Giant Steps"; blitzkrieg version of this one, the tempo was intense but the trio didn't miss a step (lol).

"Orange Peel"; Yep, the Reuben Wilson tune...talk about F-U-N-K-Y! Lonnie crawled underneath the organ during this tune and played a bass solo on the pedals with his hands.

"If U.C.K."; the encore which segued into "The Theme".

He was hilarious as well, the very small but enthusiastic crowd was really into the whole experience. His trio is very tight and it was obvious they were having a great time. I tried to catch their names but never quite nailed it...the drummer's first name is Anthony (the last name sounded italian), the guitarist I have no idea but he was quite a good player.

Go see him if you can!

sheldonm Newbie

sheldonm

Posted
Posted

...saw him last night in Indy and had dinner with him. Great guy and a blast to talk to. He was telling me he lived in Indy for a very short time in the early 70s....but didn't recall the exact year. He shared some stories with me about some of the Indy players he work with back in the day.

Great show~

Although I've only begun the editing process of my shoot, here is a photo of the good Doctor and one with him and Mel Rhyne.

m

....drummer was Anthony Penciotti.

post-24-1187662450.jpg

  • 2 weeks later...
daveguy1 Newbie

daveguy1

Posted
Posted

[sORRY FOR THE LATENESS OF THIS POSTING! THERE WAS A GLITCH IN MY NEW MEMBER REGISTRATION, AND THEN I MESSED UP THE FIRST TIME I TRIED TO POST THIS. IN ANY CASE, I HOPE THIS REVIEW WILL STILL BE OF SOME INTEREST. THANKS.]

Hi - I am new to your forum. I had to join so as to comment on the A--KICKIN' GREAT Dr. Lonnie Smith show at the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach on 8/18 (or, as "Groove Merchant" put it - one FANTASTIC show)!!

First, let me help Groove Merchant out with the names of Dr. L's colleagues. The drummer's name was Tony Pinciotti, and the guitarist was Dan Faehnle, and yes, they were also FANTASTIC, especially, if I may say, the drummer, who just about set the place on fire with the ferocity of his s--t!

I'd second everything Groove Merchant said, and add the following personal observations:

-- Nobody else IN JAZZ makes an organ sound quite as FUNKY as Dr. L (yes, I'm even including Jimmy Smith, who was superior technically, just maybe not quite as funky as Dr. L). There have been other organ players based in R&B, soul or rock who were just about as funky (Billy Preston for one, certainly), but with them you didn't get the "exploratory" nature of Dr. L's jazz thing;

-- as far as Saturday's Va. Beach show, since I am a fan of both soul-jazz AND straightahead jazz, I particularly appreciated Lonnie and his band playing Coltrane's "Giant Steps", just about the only straightahead number they did that night, and, as Groove Merchant said, it was done at a BLITZKRIEG, but tight-as-a-drum, pace;

-- I also enjoyed Dr. L's digressions, such as his singing note-for-note perfect impersonations of Johnny Mathis doing "Misty" and Stevie Wonder doing "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"(!!);

-- if I had any caveats about the show, it would just be two very minor things: he might have said "I'm gettin' too old for this!" once or twice too often (he said it after almost every number), and I might have preferred it if he had cut back a little on "teasing" the audience (by slowing down or even stopping his playing in the middle of a song). But, as I said, these are very minor caveats;

-- To sum up: after the show, when I asked Dr. L to sign one of my Lonnie Smith CD's, I told him that I had waited a long time to see him in person -- and I'm damn glad I finally got the chance!

  • 1 year later...
aparxa Rookie

aparxa

Posted
Posted

He made an End-of-Usual-Suspect impression during the last Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Marcus Garvey park. He was in the audience at the beginning of the Barry Harris set, just next to me. He winked at me as I was staring at him without speaking. And I did not have the time to talk to him as he left when Harris invited his students to sing 'Embracable yahoo". And he left like an humbacked very old man. In fact it was just for not disturbing the movie cameras cause all the sudden he stood up literally ran away from the park :lol: .

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