Hammond organ legend Lonnie Smith made a string of essential albums between the late 1960s and mid 70s, and Afrodesia is the highlight. It is tempting to say that the cover alone, a painting of our hipster hero in tropical nirvana, is worth the retail price but that would not do justice to the music.

A bewitching blend of pyschedelic soul, funk and jazz, the songs are groove heavy and decisively enhanced by some thrilling solos and fantastically strange sounds. No better example of this can be found than the title track, which has punchy horns, sizzling keyboards, a guitar made to sound like a prehistoric bird and vocals that evoke a commanding high priest. It’s as if Jimi’s ‘Purple Haze’ had reached a Baptist church by way of a santeria ceremony. Smith is on excellent form throughout and there are a couple of delicious curveballs thrown at unsuspecting punters to boot. The mysteriously-named guitarist ‘Compliments Of A Friend’ is actually Smith’s previous collaborator George Benson, who hid his identity for contractual reasons, and the composition ‘Flavors’ is John Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’, which is given a rip roaring treatment that serves as a reminder that Smith and co can get as much improvisatory mileage from hard swing as they do a heavy backbeat.