In early 2001, Collectables reissued two very different Lonnie Liston Smith albums back to back on the same 71-minute CD: 1985's Rejuvenation and 1986's Make Someone Happy. While Rejuvenation favors the type of ethereal, gently funky fusion and crossover jazz that Smith is best known for, Make Someone Happy offers something that one ordinarily doesn't expect from a Smith album: straight-ahead acoustic post-bop performed in a traditional piano trio setting. Those who know a lot about Smith's history realize that his roots were straight-ahead jazz, which is what he played during his pre-Cosmic Echoes years as a sideman/acoustic pianist for Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and others. But when he formed the Cosmic Echoes and started recording as a leader in the '70s, Smith earned a reputation as a fusion/crossover player who was quite comfortable on electric keyboards -- and his Cosmic Echoes albums could arguably be described as a bridge between the spirituality of Sanders, John Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner and the spirituality of Earth, Wind & Fire. As far as Smith's fusion/crossover output goes, Rejuvenation isn't in a class with Visions of a New World, Astral Traveling, or Expansions, but is a decent and enjoyable collection of mood music. Make Someone Happy, meanwhile, is excellent. Forming a trio with Cecil McBee (upright bass) and Al Foster (drums), Smith sticks to the acoustic piano and turns his attention to well-known standards that range from two Duke Ellington gems ("Satin Doll" and "Duke's Place") to Ira Gershwin's "I Can't Get Started" to Burt Bacharach's "Wives and Lovers." And as different as Rejuvenation and Make Someone Happy are, Smith's playing is as distinctive on one album as it is on the other; whether he is playing fusion/crossover originals on Rejuvenation or giving us a straight-ahead post-bop version of Kurt Weill's "Speak Low" on Make Someone Happy, Smith's playing is very recognizable throughout this CD. Rejuvenation, although respectable, is not among Smith's essential albums. But Make Someone Happy is, and that jewel of an album makes this CD well worth the price of admission.