Expansions

Recorded in 1974 in New York, the session featured Lonnie Liston Smith on keyboards leading the Cosmic Echoes, an ensemble that included his brother Donald Smith on vocals and flute, with the group pursuing a spiritual jazz and cosmic soul direction informed by Smith's work with Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis. Released on Flying Dutchman Records on the debut Cosmic Echoes album 'Expansions' in 1975, the title track became an immediate touchstone of the spiritual jazz movement, its meditative groove and uplifting vocal-instrumental blend resonating with Black cultural and consciousness movements of the mid-1970s. 'Expansions' became one of the most sampled records in hip-hop history, used by producers across multiple decades of American rap, and its warm keyboard melody and positive lyrical message have made it a staple of rare groove and jazz-funk collections worldwide.