Who says you have to slow down as you get older? The honorable B-3 master,
Dr. Lonnie Smith, has been on a renaissance tear since the beginning of the 21st century.
Rise Up! is the fifth new recording since 2000, and there have been a number of reissues of his older work to boot. Given that some artists issue a record a year, this may not seem like such a terrific feat -- but appearances are deceiving.
Smith recorded only 13 albums between 1966 and 1996, so five in nine years is actually prolific. It's not only the quantity, however, it's the consistency of the quality of the records
Smith has been releasing that is outstanding, and
Rise Up! is no exception.
Ever since 2000's Turbanator and 2003's Boogaloo to Beck: A Tribute,
Smith has packed his records with covers and originals that accent the "soul" in the deep, wide tradition of soul-jazz. Sure, he's funky, he's got chops, grooves, and tricks, and he's surrounded himself with compelling musicians from
Jimmy Ponder to
David "Fathead" Newman to great effect. Since 2003 he's been working with guitarist and producer
Matt Balitsaris and the results have been, and remain, electrifying. This set, with guitarist
Peter Bernstein, saxophonist
Donald Harrison, and drummer
Herlin Riley -- with extra help on a couple of cuts from
Balitsaris and percussionist James Shipp -- is one of his most realized, funky, and resonant dates yet. The set jumps off with
Smith's original "Matterapat,"showcasing the smoking Latin percussion of Shipp and taut, off-kilter breaks from
Riley, the front line is all knotty soul and blues. The theme is greasy and in the pocket;
Harrison's solo moves effortlessly from post-bop to soul. The cover of
the Beatles' "Come Together" that follows is even nastier, with
Smith's below-the-basement vocal growl on the first verse all but indecipherable except as a snarling rap. It's another instrument in this band's arsenal. This is a slow bump and funky grind with a big payoff. "Pilgrimage" begins as a ballad but quickly asserts itself as a cooker thanks to
Riley playing counterpoint breaks to
Smith's B-3. Other covers that appear -- and are reinvented in
Smith's musical vocabulary -- are
the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," which commences, seemingly, as an astral afterthought but finds a deep percussive bottom end and a spooky articulation of the melody that is all rhythm based. One can guarantee that the version of "People Make the World Go 'Round" found here is unlike any other that exists. It's the longest cut on the set and builds itself right from a lithe, breezy funk groove with a poppin' set of rimshot breakbeats from
Riley.
Harrison is the perfect foil for
Smith because of his lyric sensibility; it is the perfect counter to the percussive groove quotient of
Smith. The solos here are wonderfully complex and sophisticated and the use of harmonic extension in the ensemble's reading is pure magic. The set ends on an atmospheric blues tip with
Smith's "Voodoo Doll," where
Harrison's alto plays it straight out of the noir-ish dark and into the shadows where traces of light emerge.
Smith's comping and eventually structural form for the tune transforms it into a swirling, shimmering heat with
Bernstein's guitar erecting a pulsing bridge for
Riley. It's a killer way to end a record. For B-3 fans,
Rise Up! is nothing but solid in terms of tunes, arrangements, and heat. ~ Thom Jurek