Last year another jazz-legend visited Trondheim
(Norway). Dr. Lonnie Smith brought
his Trio and performed
at the quirky and very popular venue Dokkhuset.
His set-up was a Hammond B3 with
both a short and a tall Leslie. On his left side he had several keyboards
running into a laptop and/ or a synth, and on his right he had drum pads.
Dr. Lonnie was stretching the
envelopes of time and harmony from the very outset of the show. It was hard to
know exactly where you were in time or texture, until it gradually became
revealed to you. I tried to both take in the enjoyment of the sound and listen
for the clues that reveal where the music was headed. One was gratified
instantly, the other as the works unfolded. Dr. Lonnie’s style allows for highly
experimental and very groovy pars to run over and into each other. He can take
the listener back and forth between these two shores like waves — and just as
naturally.
When Lonnie walked on to the stage
with a cane I presumed he needed it (which for all I know, he might). What I
didn’t know was that old men with walking-sticks could play as fast as this. At
one point he rose up and looked a bit like Gandalf — that’s when we found
out that the cane was in fact an instrument! At first it seemed more like a funny
curio, but as he kept playing it started making sense. Seeing him wielding his
cane it was impossible not to think of Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!
I had a chance to speak with him
after the show and told him that the Hammond Organ was one of the really
important sounds of my own childhood. It could literally make me get goosebumps
everywhere! My father had a friend with a Hammond he had re-furbished himself,
and I remember the ground vibrating when I stood next to the Leslie. I went on
to sing a lot of Gospel and Jazz and the sound of the organ stuck with me. Dr.
Lonnie also used to sing Gospel when he was younger, and so did his Mother and
siblings. The organ always stood out to him. When hearing it, he said, it was
like electricity went through his body like a spear! He put a real emphasis on
those words and I believe his experience of the sound goes beyond what most of
us can fully understand. He isn’t just a musical legend who helped define how
we hear this instrument, but the sound of the instrument might have connected
so strongly with something inside of him that he himself might not have had
much of a choice but to pursue it.
The band
Jonathan Kreisberg (Guitar), is a firework
between lyrical passages and rapid breathtaking runs. His tone is incredible,
even through a PA in a concrete room on an old shipyard. It’s not rare to come
across nice guitar tones per se, but at this level it is.
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| Jonathan Kreisberg |
Johnathan Blake (Drums). Blake is often
the rails that Dr. Lonnie’s experimentation rides on top of. But Blake’s triplet-arsenal
and his abstracting of metre also makes him an integral part of the
experimentation. If the word ‘firework’ was to be used for only one of the band-members
it would have to be him.
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| Johnathan Blake |
Till next time!
After the show Dr. Lonnie and his band hung
around on stage. They were clearing cables and packing up, and all were approachable
for conversation and picture-taking. Mark of true gentlemanly down-to-earth-ness!
Dr. Lonnie was last in Trondheim six
years ago. ‘It’s been a while’ he said while stating that he hoped it would not
be as long till next time. Though if Trump became President he promised to be
back earlier. While I don’t think Trump has been even half as bad as the media
wants us to believe — Dr. Lonnie and his band are very welcome to move to
Norway at any time!
Great
concert — I got to see another legend!
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| Dr. Lonnie and his music-making cane! |
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| Dr. Lonnie and his music-making cane! |
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| Yours truly meets Dr. Lonnie Smith (Photo: Fredrik Thommesen) |
