Acclaimed organist Dr. Lonnie Smith has released his new album Breathe, featuring a combination of live and studio tracks.
It’s the Hammond B3 specialist’s third album with Blue Note since returning to the record label in 2016, nearly 50 years after he gained prominence with the imprint back in the 1960s.
Produced by Blue Note president Don Was, Breathe features eight tracks, six of them recorded during Smith’s 75th birthday celebration at New York’s Jazz Standard in 2017. In fact, it was recorded in the same week as his acclaimed trio album All In My Mind.
On this night, the NEA Jazz Master took the stage with an expanded lineup featuring guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg, drummer Johnathan Blake, tenor saxophonist John Ellis, baritone saxophonist Jason Marshall, trumpeter Sean Jones and trombonist Robin Eubanks.