Photo by Andrea Canter

Dr. Lonnie Smith performs with passion and skill, and has been thrilling audiences since the 1960's. Smith's 1968 debut with Bluenote, Think is solid soulful jazz. His long association with Lou Donaldson resulted in some of the most iconic soul-jazz statements of the era (including Alligator Bogaloo). Dr. Lonnie Smith was born in Buffalo, N.Y. into a musical family. His family had a singing group and a radio show. Smith credits his mother as a major influence in his musical career, introducing him to gospel, classical and jazz music.

"I can take it anywhere it goes, right? I love to play inside, outside...but the organ swings best when it swings, doesn't it? That's what that organ is good for. You could try to play hip all you want, but when you swing that thing, there's no other feeling like it." - Doctor Lonnie Smith

Photo by Andrea Canter

Dr. Smith also has a Jack McDuff connection. He sat in with Jack's group in th eearly 60's and met George Benson, and shorty after that formed a succesful group with Benson. After recording several albums with George Benson and Lou Donaldson, Lonnie became a solo recording artist and developed a career that has produced over 30 albums under his own name. Several legendary jazz artists have joined Dr. Lonnie Smith on his albums, including Lee Morgan, David "Fat Head" Newman, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, and Joe Lavano among others.

Like his the title of his latest CD, you can expect his peformance to be Too Damn Hot.

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