Dr. Lonnie Smith

Genre: B-3 Funk Jazz

After posting about Marco Benevento a few days ago, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of the defining jazz organ players of the last half-century. One of the first names to come to mind was "Dr." Lonnie Smith, whose career began in the late 1950s and continues with this year's release Rise Up. He played with some of the biggest names in 60/70s acid jazz, including George Benson and Lou Donaldson. His contributions to funk and jazz are impossible to ignore, evident in the two videos below.