THE STEVE SMITH NEWSLETTER VOL. 1

Your guide and publicist: Michael Bloom

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Here's the latest news on drummer Steve Smith.
And there is a LOT of news!

His band, Vital Information, will have an excellent new release out on August 4: Where We Come From (Intuition, distributed in the U.S. by Allegro). It's a no-holds-barred, joy-of-playing session. Check out Steve's informative liner notes later in this message!

Steve is the virtual A&R head and producer for a series of wonderful "power trio" dates on a new jazz label, TONE CENTER (a sub-label of Shrapnel Records, a heavy metal label based in the Bay Area). So far they've recorded:

VITAL TECH TONES with guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist Victor Wooten, and Smith (Street date: June 16);

SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO with Vital guitarist Frank Gambale, Stu Hamm (Satriani's bassist) and Steve doing the drumming (street date: July 28); and

CAUSE AND EFFECT, featuring guitarist Larry Coryell, Vital's Tom Coster on Hammond B-3 organ, and Smith on drums (Street date: Mid-Sept).

VITAL INFORMATION
Where We Come From

(Steve Smith's liner notes)

BACKGROUND
The concept for this recording started to develop while I was preparing for the Journey album Trial by Fire. I researched the roots of Rock & Roll so I could have a much greater knowledge of the development of the music and gain insights into the role of drumming in that evolution. I read books, watched videos, talked to everyone that I could who was knowledgeable about early blues, R&B and rock. Then I bought CD's, tapes and records; dozens of reissues of early blues, jump blues, R&B, soul, funk, Cajun, early rock and surf....everything I could find. Most of the music had a great feel. It was swingin' and loose, played with an attitude that was playful and unselfconscious. At this point, I began to rediscover some of the great instrumental music of the 60's and 70's. My two favorites were Booker T and the MG's and the Meters; both bands were quartets featuring the Hammond B3 organ and had the same instrumentation as Vital Info. I then remembered that the B3 was Tom's main instrument; however, since leaving Santana he rarely played it.

INSTRUMENTS - THE SOUNDS
I talked to Tom about using the B3 on this project and he was excited about the idea. Not only did I wanted to capture the vibe and inspiration of the older groove instrumentals but also highlight our own personal musical roots. For Tom, that also meant the accordion, since that was his original instrument. The other instrument I wanted to hear was the Fender Rhodes. When Tom and I first played together in his band, about seventeen years ago, the Rhodes was one of his main keyboards. The way he used the Mutron, wha-wha pedal and the ring modulator was so hip I asked him to dust off his old Rhodes and bring it to rehearsal.

We were on our way to reinventing the sound and concept of Vital Info. I love the sound of the acoustic bass and how it blends with and grounds the sounds of the more electric instruments. Jeff was into using his upright on as many of the tunes as appropriate. Jeff has been playing upright for quite a while, but he has not been recorded on the instrument very often. As for electric bass, he decided to go with his four-string Fender style Yamaha, feeling it would be more in keeping with the new (old) concept, rather than the five or six-string basses he had been using.

Frank has already been deep into exploring the nuances of his hollow body George Benson Ibanez guitar, having played his entire last solo recording Thinking Out Loud on it. He was glad to play that instrument on every tune and get into his own blues, country, rock and surf roots.

For myself, I brought out of storage, one of my old Sonor Phonic drum kits, with all traditional sizes (toms: 8x8, 10x8, 12x8, 14x14, 16x16 and a 20x14 double headed bass drum). A combination of old and new K Zildjians were used, and about five or six vintage snare drums. Around the kit were mounted various cowbells, woodblocks, a tambourine and I topped it off with a ching-ring on the hi-hat for a few tunes.

By rediscovering the beauty of the music of the 50's, 60's and 70's, I saw that we had become very self conscious of the imperfections in our playing. We had developed the ability to play virtually perfect "tracks" but in doing that we had homogenized a lot of the soul, spontaneity and fun right out of the music. By underestimating the openness and intelligence of the listeners, we had deprived them of a vital experience, the true expression of ourselves as a group and as individuals. On this recording, we are letting it all hang out, this is where we live, this is Where We Come From.

THE MUSIC
One of the ideas for this project was "What if we went back to the late 60's and early 70's when electric jazz was just getting started and altered the recipe a little bit?". We'll keep some of the main ingredients that the early "fusion" pioneers used; blues, be bop, modal jazz, R&B and rock, but we'll add a dose of New Orleans, Memphis, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Smith and a pinch of surf music (sorry, Jimi).

Many of the tunes developed from jamming on grooves in rehearsal. 'Dr. Demento' (dedicated to the wacky DJ we grew up listening to), 'Swamp Stomp' (dedicated to the funkiest of the funky drummers, Zigaboo Modeliste), 'Take Eight' (dedicated to Joe Morello for his inspirational playing on 'Take Five' and to the memory of one of my teachers who also played some great drums on 'Take Five', Alan Dawson), and 'Bob' (dedicated to Bob) were created in this way.

Listen Up is one of Tom's tunes inspired by the work of Eddie Harris and First Thing This Morning is Frank's nod to George Benson.

Jeff came up with the idea and arrangement of 'Moby Dick', a potential New Standard. Jeff also brought in 'Blow Fish Blues', a composition written by Jaco Pastorius that he gave to Jeff, and has never been recorded until now.

I wanted to record the Ornette tune 'Happy House', since the quirkiness of the melody seemed to fit our direction, and it's such a nice drum feature. On a recent gig with my friend Jeff Richman, we played his tune Sitting Ducks, which I thought would be perfect for this recording.

There are also five "inserts" on this CD. They are obviously the results of the idea "Let's just roll tape and see what happens." As they were sequenced into the album, Frank discovered they tell a little story, and it goes something like this:

  1. Craniac #1. Some aliens come to Earth and snatch a hapless victim, Bob, and carry him off to their spaceship.
  2. Craniac #2. In order to conduct some kind bizarre experiment, they remove his brain.
  3. Craniac #3. Now they insert a new brain into the space where the old one was. This seems to be a bit traumatic.
  4. Cranial Joy. The experiment is going well and Bob is experiencing some real bliss.
  5. Dementia. Big trouble. The experiment has run amok and old Bob's mental state has deteriorated, big time.

Thanks for the interpretation Frank, we'll make sure your therapist gets a copy of this.

As if all this music isn't enough, there is more. When we listened back to our improvisations, we decided to include two in their entirety. 'Once in a Lifetime,' which is dedicated to the memory of one of the greatest musicians of our time, Tony Williams, for his innovative drumming and bold new directions in music, especially his work with John McLaughlin and Larry Young. And then there's '008' . Forgive us but this is a one time only spontaneous performance of Vital goes surfing.

With that you have Where We Come From. A recent summation of who we are now, all the way back to our earliest influences, musical and otherwise. This is by far the most natural and fun recording we've ever made. We hope you groove on it baby!

Thanks for listening.

- Steve Smith

THE OFFICIAL "BIO"
VITAL INFORMATION
Where We Come From

After years of flirting with world beat exotica and MIDI technology on previous Vital Information projects, poll-winning drummer Steve Smith has come full circle back to his earliest musical memories on the aptly titled Where We Come From , a cornucopia of rich, rootsy music that is quintessentially American.

From the James Brown-flavored funk of "Dr. Demento" to blistering, bop-inspired romps like "Moby Dick" and "Blowfish Blues," from the earthy New Orleans r&b of "Swamp Stomp" to the raw fusionesque "Once In A Lifetime" to the avant jazz of Ornette Coleman's "Happy House," with a dash of surf music thrown in for good measure on "008," this highly eclectic offering is at once highly appealing and virtually impossible to categorize.

For Smith and his longtime Vital bandmates -- guitarist Frank Gambale (formerly of Chick Corea's Elektric Band), keyboardist Tom Coster (a former member of Santana who has also toured in Billy Cobham's band) and bassist Jeff Andrews (who has toured and recorded with saxophonist Michael Brecker, fusioneers Steps Ahead and guitar great Mike Stern) --Where We Come From represents both a departure and return to familiar musical territory.

"We really reinvented ourselves on this one," says Smith, who formed Vital Information in 1983 as a vehicle for his more adventurous impulses outside his long-standing gig with rock supergroup Journey.

"We just threw caution to the wind and did something that felt good and was just a whole lot of fun," adds Coster. "It was just a 'turn on the tape machine and create' environment. I hadn't done anything like that in years. "

"We wanted to make a record with that loose attitude that cats used to have in the '60s," says Andrews. "Just go into the studio and come up with stuff that was more improvised than pre-arranged. We've all been in situations where guys bring in MIDI tapes with all the prepared parts and say, 'Well, here's my tune. Learn it.' But this was more of a thing where we just sat down and played. And it really fell together that way."

As Gambale noted, "We were all feeling pretty free at the time of the recording. We figured, 'Let's do this one for us.' We wanted to make music without any boundaries. And whatever it is, it is, you know? We were not trying to make a commercial record here. We were just trying to make a musical statement, and I think that came across loud and clear."

The unifying factor throughout Where We Come From is the sound of the Hammond B-3 organ. And that hulking, vintage instrument is in good hands with Tom Coster, who specialized in B-3 playing long before he landed his coveted gig with Santana in 1972. "Back in the '60s, I was a white organist working in black clubs around the San Francisco Bay area," he says. "I also played at an after-hours club from 2:30 until 6 in the morning called The Streets Of Paris. So I just happened to be around at the right time and playing the right instrument when Santana called. Because Greg Rollie (whom Coster replaced) played B-3 and that was really a major voice of that band."

Coster smokes the B-3 on the soul-jazz burner "Listen Up!," his take on the late, great Eddie Harris' mid-'60s hit "Listen Here." A decided Larry Young influence comes out in his harmonically daring organ work on Jeff Andrews' boppish arrangement of Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" and also on an uptempo version of the previously unrecorded Jaco Pastorius composition "Blowfish Blues."

"I really loved playing left handed bass on the organ on those two tunes," he says. "It's a whole different swing factor. You're so much a part of the rhythm section at that point that if you can really play that stuff it just swings so hard. And I hadn't done that in years."

In both a sonic and conceptual sense, Where We Come From reflects the overall attitude of the '60s. "I just love the whole feeling of that era...the sounds of the instruments, the attitude, the looseness, and I really wanted to capture that spirit as much as I could on this record," says Smith, who was voted #1 All-Around Drummer in the Modern Drummer Readers Poll for five consecutive years (1987-1991) before being retired to the magazine's Hall Of Fame.

Much of the groove-oriented material on this eighth Vital Information record was triggered by Smith's own vivid memories of listening to The Meters and Booker T & The MGs as a kid growing up in Boston. "I remember buying the Meters' Rejuvenation when I was just out of high school," he says. "And recently I went through my parents' closet when I was visiting them at home last summer and found some old Booker T singles that I had bought back then. So I had a lot of this stuff and it was way in the back of my mind all these years...just waiting to come out again."

Seeing original Meters drummer Zigaboo Modeliste perform recently with charter Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli at a gig near his home inspired Smith to investigate the New Orleans drumming heritage in greater detail. He puts those syncopated second line rhythms to good use on Jeff Richman's "Sitting Ducks" and on "Swamp Stomp," which features Coster on accordion, his first instrument. Coster also cops an authentic zydeco vibe on "Swamp Stomp" and on the wacky interlude "Cranial Joy: Completion."

Smith's experience with jazz drumming, accrued through studies at the Berklee College Of Music with Alan Dawson and Gary Chaffee and extensive bandstand experience with Steps Ahead and jazz piano legend Ahmad Jamal, comes into play in a big way throughout Where We Come From . He uses brushes on a swinging "Moby Dick" to get as far away as possible from the original Zep version, also soloing in a melodic vein that draws inspiration from jazz drumming legend Max Roach. His drums are featured between the cracks of Ornette Coleman's "Happy House" and his own "Take Eight" is a tribute to drumming legend Joe Morello, who played on the original version of the Brubeck-Desmond classic "Take Five."

On the other end of the spectrum from those skillful displays of jazz drumming is Smith's garage band approach on "008," a good hearted spoof on spy theme music that was concocted on the spot in the studio.

The brief musical interludes throughout Where We Come From (part of the "Craniac Trilogy") are extracted from extended improvs in the studio. One lengthy and rather volatile jam remained intact and was dubbed "Once In A Lifetime," a reference to the seminal fusion group of the late '60s, Tony Williams Lifetime. "That's a ten-minute jam that started with Jeff playing that bass line," explains Smith, "and we played it until the tape ran out. Tony had died when we were in the middle of rehearsals for this project so that was on our minds in a big way during the recording. This tune just seemed to have captured that sort of aggressive, adventurous spirit that Lifetime had, so we dedicated it to Tony."

While Coster reverts back to his B-3 and accordion throughout Where We Come From, he also breaks out his vintage effects on "Once In A Lifetime," summoning up nasty grunge tones on his Fender Rhodes electric piano by feeding it through '70s gear like a Maestro Ring Modulator and a wah-wah pedal.

Gambale, a ferocious technician, is heard throughout the project demonstrating his awesome command of the fretboard on a hollow body Ibanez guitar, which he uses to great effect on his George Benson-inspired composition "First Thing This Morning" and the blazing "Take Eight." His soloing on "Blowfish Blues" and the powerfully aggressive "Once In A Lifetime" is equally astounding.

"This was a good record to stretch out, guitaristically," says Gambale. "A lot of people like to pigeonhole jazz musicians as being one-dimensional, just playing straight ahead. And that really irks me. That was the whole point of this album, to let people know that we are capable of doing anything that we want to."

Andrews alternates between electric and acoustic basses on this latest Vital project. His arrangement of the Zeppelin tune "Moby Dick" harkens back to his New Standards band of '93. "I've got jazz arrangements on 15 pop songs that spoke to a generation," he explains. "People my age or younger have no emotional connection to 'Stella By Starlight,' but 'Moby Dick' or 'Both Sides Now' or a Jimi Hendrix song will always register with them because they are familiar with those melodies. They grew up with them. And if they heard my versions of these same tunes they would know where the melody stops and where the improvising begins. They would begin to understand jazz a little better."

In the process of harkening back to their own musical roots, the members of Vital Information have come up with their most vibrant, versatile and inherently American-sounding project to date.

"I've dabbled in the Afro-Cuban thing and as an end result I realize that I'm an American ethnic drummer," says Smith, whose credits include recordings with Mariah Carey, Bryan Adams, Jean-Luc Ponty, Steps Ahead and Dweezil Zappa as well as with Journey bandmates Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. "I've not abandoned the whole Afro-Cuban thing but I really want to focus on the music of my culture now. And it's a serious dedication. I'll let Horacio Hernandez and all these guys who come from Cuba play Cuban music. But I'm an American, so I want to play the whole gamut of American drums.

Smith and company cover a wide variety of American sounds on Where We Come From. And the playing throughout is strictly world-class.

STEVE SMITH ON TOUR:

Where he's drummin' from:

July 21-25Istanbul Jazz Festival w/ Aydin Esen Trio
August 1 Mt. Hood Jazz Festival w/ Vital Information
August 4 -9 Catalina Bar & Grill (Los Angeles) w/ Vital Information
August 10 - 17 In Florida working on remix of Global Beat release, into DTS 5.1 SurroundSound format. In stores this Fall.
August 17 - 23 Japan tour, Yokota Air Force Base w/ Vital Information
August 24 - 25 Japan tour, Osaka Blue Note, w/ Vital Information
September 14 Zildjian Day Drum Clinic, Stockholm, Sweden w/ Trilok Gurtu & Akira Jimbo
September 15 Zildjian Day Drum Clinic, Madrid, Spain w/ Trilok Gurtu & Akira Jimbo
October 8 - 10 Zildjian Weekend Drum Clinics, Chicago w/ Cindy Blackman
October 11 - 20 East Coast Tour w/ Vital Information (in the works, cities & venues TBA)
Oct - Nov European Tour w/ Vital Information (in the works, cities & venues TBA)

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