An update from Steve Smith:

It’s been a busy few months since the release of "Where We Come From." We started out in August playing the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz in Portland, OR. I especially enjoyed getting to watch the set by John Scofield with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart.

Then we had a great week in L.A. at Catalina’s Bar & Grill and then on to Japan to play at a U.S. Airforce Base and the Blue Note Osaka. While we were there we ran into some old friends. Niacin was in Tokyo so we checked them out and Dennis Chambers, Billy Sheehan and John Novello were Smokin'!

At our gig in Osaka we were visited by Nathan East, Larry Carlton (who were giging with Foreplay) and one of my favorite drummers Billy Cobham. The Japanese audiences are a pleasure to play for, they are so warm and appreciative. My daughter Lizzie joined us on the trip. She loves to travel and enjoys the Japanese food, especially sushi. It was a joy to have her with me on the trip.

After a quick visit home I was off to Europe for some Zildjian Days. On the way I stopped in Boston to attend the American Drummers Achievement Awards sponsored by Zildjian. Talk about fun and inspiration! Zildjian always knows how to throw a great hang and they outdid themselves this time.

Louie Bellson, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones and Max Roach were honored, and Bill Cosby was hilarious as the Master of Ceremonies. There where fantastic performances by Steve Gadd, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Erskine (who was tearing it up in his Elvin tribute!) and Marvin “Smitty” Smith. I got to hang with Freddie Gruber, all my Zildjian pals and drummer buddies.

Then on to Stockholm, Sweden and Madrid, Spain for some inspiring Zildjian Days with Akira Jimbo and Trilok Gurtu. Another quick trip home (the San Francisco area) and then off to NYC for a Buddy Rich Tribute. On this one I played with Buddy’s Buddies, a small group featuring Steve Marcus, Andy Fusco and Will Lee. That was really fun, the guys were swinging hard! Dennis Chambers and Phil Collins played with the bigband. Dennis was his usual killin’ self and Phil did a great job kicking the big band.

Another interesting gig was a Zildjian Showcase Weekend at Northwestern U. in the Chicago area. Steve Houghton performed a brilliant piece with the schools Wind Ensemble on drumset, tympani, marimba and tuned percussion. Wow! I got to play with the big band and they did a great job. I saw some other great performances by John Beck on timpani and Lee Howard Stevens on marimba. Then I had to run straight to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

For the past two years I’ve been playing with the Aydin Esen Trio which is based in Istanbul. Aydin is a genius keyboard player and the bassist is a monster player from Boston, Baron Browne (more about him later). We performed at the Istanbul Jazz Festival and the Ankara Jazz Festival. We then spent three days in a recording studio and came out with a SERIOUS record. It hopefully will be out by next year.

When I got home I started working on the current tour for Vital Information. After getting it set up(which is quite a big job since I’m agent,manager and band leader) I learned that Jeff needed to take a sabbatical from touring. We were disappointed but had to find a bass player for the dates. My first call was to Baron and he was ready to jump on board! Baron Browne is a groovin', swingin', funkin', BAD ASS Bass Player. You may have heard him with Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty, Gary Burton or Walter Beasley to name a few.

The band is ready to get out and hit it and see where the music take us this time. When we last left off, the tunes were really opening up and starting to develop into some new areas. I’m looking forward to getting even looser with the material and adding some new improvised pieces in the sets. We all hope to see you at the gigs! Thanks for your support.....

Steve Smith

Questions on the Vital discography:

The most common question I get when people write to me is, "Where can I get the old Vital Information recordings?" Unfortunately, the answer is, "Your used record shop."

The first four Vital Information records were on Columbia, and are currently out of print. Columbia has no plans to re-release them. Those albums were, 'Vital Information', 'Orion' (only released on records and cassette tapes), 'Global Beat' and 'Fiafiaga' (released on records, cassettes, and Cds.)

We then recorded 'Vitalive!' which Manhattan (Blue Note) released in the U.S. and that too, is currently out of print. I licensed the master to Intuition, (Vera Bra) Records for European release, and it is still available there. You can get your hands on it through Audiophile Imports at (908) 996-7311. (Audiophile, in fact has all of the Tone Center and Intuition releases as well.)

The Next recording we did was, ‘Easier Done than Said’ on Manhattan (Blue Note) and, you guessed it, it is also out of print!

So that brings us to ‘Ray of Hope’ and ‘Where We Come From’ which we have out on Intuition. Those releases are still available.

Recently, I was involved in a DTS 5.1 re-mix of ‘Global Beat’ to be released in 1999! DTS 5.1 is a home-theatre Surround system format (which is not stereo compatible.) If you’ve got the DTS decoder and 5.1 speakers (the ‘.1’ being the sub-woofer) than get ready for an awesome re-mix! Kevin Elson, who had originally recorded and mixed ‘Global Beat’ was there for the re-mix into DTS, and he did an awesome job! (Kevin mixed the live sound and was co-producer for our Journey albums.)

There you have the answers to all those questions regarding the ‘old’ Vital recordings. Hopefully someday they’ll all be re-released!

The Tone Center Story:

The whole idea started when Mike Varney asked me to put a recording project together that highlighted the “rock” side of my jazz/rock playing. I came up with the combination of Scott Henderson and Victor Wooten. As the recording progressed, we realized that it was far too jazz oriented of a recording to be on Shrapnel (Mike’s label, which primarily caters to the heavy metal enthusiast). The idea of a new label was born, Tone Center, specializing in high-energy, virtuostic jazz/rock fusion! Great idea! Mike then asked me to put some other projects together. I called Frank Gambale and asked him if he was interested in making a recording. He was very excited about the idea of a fusion trio with Stu Hamm, who we had both worked with before. Mike approved the idea, so we went for it!

When I ran the idea of a fusion record by Jeff Andrews, he recommended Larry Coryell, the original ‘fusion’ guitarist. I contacted Larry, who was enthusiastic about returning to his roots. We decided to invite Tom Coster to join us, and record with the organ trio format. Tom brought a wealth of ideas and experience to the session. We also recruited two friends of ours to contribute some bass to that recording, Benny Reitveld (Miles Davis & Santana) and the always amazing, Victor Wooten.

We have some future projects in the works, which will combine some of the great fusion players of the 70’s and 80’s with some of the talented newcomers of today, so....STAY TUNED!!!

Reviews and quotes:

There have been some excellent groove-heavy jazz releases this year, most notably from Joey Baron, John Scofield, MMW and Galactic, but Vital Information’s Where We Come From may be the best of the bunch. This one offers 77 minutes of intense rhythmic fusion that’s loosely influenced by the Meters and Booker T and the MGs......Where We Come From showcases four talented musicians who have enough confidence in their collective abilities to attempt a more low-tech approach. This release has Smith on drums, former Santana keyboardist Tom Coster playing B-3 organ, Fender Rhodes and accordion, Jeff Andrews on bass, and Australian Frank Gambale on guitars.:
– Ed Kopp taken from www.allaboutjazz.com

"Harking back to the days of intense, real fusion playing, Vital Tech Tones contains some of the most wide-open, alarming jazz-rock in recent memory. Smith is at the heart of the proceedings, inciting his worthy mates and leading by fearless example. With the opening licks of ‘Crash Course', the Believe It-era spirit of the Tony Williams Lifetime is invoked big-time. Smith releases the throttle and goes into a breathtakingly controlled spin while Henderson’s guitar creates a dreamy vapor."
– Robin Tolleson
Modern Drummer Magazine, November 1998

"Australian guitar virtuoso Frank Gambale garnered some well-deserved attention during his stint with Chick Corea’s Elecktric Band. Gambale is an amazing technician who has released instructional videos, solo CD’s and has recently performed with Steve Smith’s Vital Information band. Gambale's trademark 'sweeping' technique and blazing speed is extraordinary.....Stuart Hamm is somewhat of a legendary rock bassist and has aligned himself with rock guitarist Joe Satriani over the years. Steve Smith is perhaps the most versatile drummer on the planet. Together they serve up a highly energetic and thunderous cavalcade of fusion delights."
– Glenn Astarita

"Legendary guitar genius Larry Coryell has reclaimed some of his early roots here with an explosive new cd on Tone Center records. Backed by stalwart session men Steve Smith (drums) and Tom Coster (kbrds) this is the stuff that Coryell admirers have been waiting for, especially after some recent and relatively sedate 'smooth jazz' ventures.....'Cause and Effect' literally caused me to sit on the edge of my seat. Coryell and co. dazzle, astound and effortlessly rip through originals which rekindle memories of yesteryear. These guys are having a blast which is quite evident from the outset. A conglomerate of bluesy, swinging and rip-roaring tunes take the listener for a journey that is enticing and ultimately captivating!!"
– Glenn Astarita

"Mainstream jazz fans will miss a stimulating experience this week if they pass up Vital Information, which opened a six-night run at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday."
– DON HECKMAN
Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1998