One of the most salient features of the music that the keyboardist recorded in his purple patch for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label during the early to late-1970s was its appeal to dancers. Expansions, something of a signature tune, was a guaranteed floor filler in that era and its presence both at the clubs and house parties of Britain's ‘soul patrol’ during the 1980s, 90s and beyond is a testament to the reach of Smith's vision. It was about jazz in pursuit of novel sounds as well as a new, sophisticated funk and this carefully selected 15-track compilation covering 1973-76 emphatically makes that point. As with Herbie Hancock and Smith's former boss Miles Davis, the wilful embrace of the music of James Brown and Sly Stone was a key part of the development of this ‘fusion’. But while there are similarities between the sounds on this excellent anthology and those patented by Herbie and Miles, Smith somehow managed to unlock a decidedly different songwriting path, one that still had a foot planted in the fertile soil of modal jazz that he tilled with Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas. Furthermore, Smith's use of keyboards, in particular his echoplex-heavy Fender Rhodes, is outstanding and when combined with the soaring vocals of brother Donald creates the vivid dreamscapes that would influence future generations of forward thinking ‘ambient’ artists and hip hop producers. This is not so much jazz with a populist touch as jazz that connected with people outside of its immediate constituency who subscribed to an enlightened agenda of ‘world peace’, spirituality and higher consciousness. Expansions, indeed.

Jazzwise talks to Lonnie Liston Smith

The music has a strong pacifist message. Vietnam was a defining war for your generation. Did that play a big part?

Yeah, a lot of vets would come to the shows and you'd just listen to them talk. They would tell you stories about life in the foxholes, like they were talking to a buddy, then they turned around and it was all over.

How important was your early work with Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas in your development?

When I met Pharoah and Leon each one was doing something different. Leon was doing the yodelling and Pharoah was playing more than one note at a time on his horn. I was trying to get more sound out of the grand piano. We all got together and did Karma. All of us were really doing just research.

Are you interested in forms of expression other than music – eastern religion, philosophy and literature?

People think musicians party all the time but not the serious ones. At Birdland this complete stranger walked up to me and handed me this book and said ‘this is what you’re looking for!' That was John Gilmore, (Sun Ra's saxophonist). It was a book on Sufism.

Why did you wear such brightly coloured African clothes in the 70s?

The colours were all supposed to blend with the sound and vice versa. I used to have fabric draped over the Fender Rhodes – it was all part of sound and colour thing. It was all colours of the rainbow.

As we speak, Israel and Palestine are locked in a bloody war and the conflict zones around the world are numerous. It is so at odds with the spirit of your music. How do you feel about it?

[Wars] I guess that's the reason I wrote ‘Expansions’ and ‘Visions Of A New World’. Peace and harmony, that's what we should all be working on. ‘Expansions’ was 1975. You turn on the TV now and you're watching war in living colour, so I guess we still need to ‘Give Peace A Chance’.