Lonnie Liston Smith

During this time, while Smith fully engaged the dance music sounds of the day (disco), he never employed them wholesale, which he has sometimes been accused of. As driven as he was by the union of funk and jazz -- since his days with Miles Davis some years earlier and continuing with his phenomenal band, the Cosmic Echoes -- that would haven been impossible. Instead, he was creating a blueprint for the smooth jazz and quiet storm phenomena as they are heard today. Over three years, Smith folded many sounds into his mix that did include funk, disco, jazz, and even easy listening, without ever giving up the instrumental and arrangement muscle that established his reputation. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide