Hello to all of our fans and friends. When I last wrote to you we had just finished our Feb/March tour of Europe and the March/April tour of the US North East. Since then we’ve been pretty busy.

We took a short break and then Frank went back to Italy to tour with his friend Maurizio. On this tour they both played acoustic guitars and performed in large concert halls to packed houses. I went to NYC a few days before the Modern Drummer Festival to record with Buddy’s Buddies. This is a group made up of Buddy Rich Alumni Steve Marcus- tenor and soprano sax, Andy Fusco- alto sax, Lee Musiker- piano, and Anthony Jackson-bass. For two days we rehearsed Lee Musiker’s charts and rearrangements of some of the classic Buddy tunes. Then we went into Big House recording studio and recorded the CD in two days, May 13 and 14. Malcolm Pollack engineered the session direct to two track. We were all very excited with the results. The release date is September 21.

Frank Gambale flew in from Italy, Baron Browne came down from Boston, Tom Coster from the West Coast, I was already in NYC and we all met in Montclair, New Jersey for the Modern Drummer Festival on May 14. We had a day to hang out and relax and check out some of the other performers. We didn’t see everyone but a performance that we did see that was incredible was Mike Mangini. Watch this kid, he is Badd! Bill Bruford and Earthworks played a great set at the end of the first day. On Sunday the 16th, I got there in time to see Zach Danziger who played some very hip Jungle/Jazz/Funk. John Riley played a very musical and exciting set with the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Bernard Purdie was his usually funky self in his set right before us.

I sometimes get nervous before playing at events like this but the vibe was cool and I felt relaxed so I was able to go on stage and play at my best. I wish that the performance would have been recorded for release because we played one of our best shows ever. We hadn’t played together in a month and we were fresh and full of energy. The audience response was overwhelming. They gave us standing ovations for just about every song! Everyone in the band really got caught up in the audience’s enthusiasm and played their hearts out.

Not long after the Modern Drummer Festival we got the news that Where We Come From had won the Indie Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album of 1998. This is an award given by the Association For Independent Music. From what we hear it’s like the Grammy’s of the independent labels. This is very exciting for us because it’s the first time Vital Information’s work has been acknowledged in such an “official” way. We were all thrilled and honored!

The next time we got together was two weeks later in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few gigs before going on our New Zealand/ Australia tour. May 30th at 4:30 pm found us playing the Half Moon Bay jazz club called the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. This is one of the band’s favorite clubs to play. The setting is unique, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at sunset and the club is intimate and homey. Pete Douglas who has owned and run the club for over 30 years is a real jazz lover and quite a character. We packed up at 7:15 and made a dash to Santa Cruz where we played a second gig at Palookaville at about 11:00 pm. Our opening act was Alphabet Soup, a local hip-hop/jazz/rap/funk band that I really dig. I get to occasionally play with them when they need a sub and it’s big fun.

On June 2nd at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and the 4th at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma we took part in concerts billed as “Drummers Up Front.” The concept was showcasing local drummer-led bands. Besides Vital Information, the other groups performing were the Scott Amendola Group and Michael Carabello & Primitive Medicine. Scott (from Charlie Hunter’s Band),who is a very musical and mature young player, had an interesting quartet featuring violin, guitar, bass and drums. Michael Carabello (known for his work as the original Santana conga player) had a group that featured Kit Walker on keys, ex-Vital Info bassist Kai Eckhardt, and a cast of percussionists that would make Mickey Hart & Planet Drum jealous. All the musicians involved had as much fun as the audience.

On the afternoon of June 5th we left for Wellington, New Zealand and we arrived about 15 hours later bright and early on the morning of June 7th to beautiful, crisp, cool weather, since it was winter there. We were met by our road manager/tour organizer Simon Higgins from Vorticity Music and our sound man Simon Moran. I had a clinic that night so I had to stay up, get my drums set up and immediately adjust to the new time zone. By the next day we were all ready to play and we started what I think was the best tour we have ever done. It was organized very professionally and all the people who helped us each day from the local drum/music shops treated us extremely well. Tom had real B-3’s to play at most of the gigs which was more than we expected and we just generally had a great time. As a result of the excellent treatment and almost a year of gigging, we played some of our best shows ever. By now we REALLY knew the tunes and we all stretched and really pushed ourselves and each other to new heights.

After our night at the James Cabaret in Wellington on June 8th and the Powerstation in Auckland on June 9th we took off for Australia and played in Brisbane at the Hilton QMS Basement on the 10th. Next was Australia’s capitol and Frank Gambale’s home town, Canberra, where we played the Labor Club on the 11th. They really loved us there!! Of course half of the audience was in some way related to Frank. The next day was our one day off on the tour (though I had a clinic in the afternoon) and that evening we had a wonderful home cooked Italian family dinner courtesy of Frank’s mom. The whole Gambale clan was there and everyone had a great time. Thank you Mrs. Gambale!

The tour continued at the Brothers League Club in tropical Cairns on the 13th. Next was the 12 hour, cross country, travel/gig on the same day nightmare, Perth, at the Hyde Park Hotel on the 14th. (this is like flying from Miami to Seattle via Washington, DC and Chicago and then actually being refreshed enough to play) We did have a very good gig in a jazz club in Perth that had exceptional on-stage sound. On to Adelaide at the Arkaba on the 15th and then we settled into the Basement in Sydney for three nights, the 16th, 17th and 18th. The Basement is an authentic “old school” jazz club with a hip atmosphere and a sophisticated audience. We recorded two of the nights for our upcoming (tentatively titled) “Where We Come From- Live Around The World” CD. Chad Wackerman dropped in to say hi and it was good to see him and hear he is really enjoying life in Australia.

On the 19th we traveled to our last stop on the tour, Melbourne. That afternoon we played at the Ultimate Drummers Weekend to 1,000 high energy drum fans. That event (which also featured Billy Cobham, Akira Jimbo and Manu Katche) was hosted and sponsored by Frank Corniola. Frank is one of the main reasons jazz is happening in Australia and THE reason that Vital Information and other drummer-led bands like the Dave Weckl Band and the Billy Cobham Band get to tour Down Under. Frank Corniola owns a great drum shop called Drumtek, (check them out at www.drumtek.com.au) Australia’s drum magazine DRUM Scene and is a partner with Simon Higgins in the touring/CD distribution company Vorticity Music. Thank you, Frank Corniola, for being such an incredible supporter of creative music.

For our last three gigs once again we had the luxury of playing consecutive nights, the 20th, 21st and 22nd in the same club, the Continental. Since Billy Cobham was in town doing clinics we got to hang out quite a bit at dinners and at our gig each night. Since Baron and Tom had both played in Billy’s band we got to hear some funny stories of their life on the road. He indulged me with all my Mahavishnu, Spectrum, Crosswinds etc... questions and it was a thrill for me to spend time with a musician who has influenced and inspired me so much.

We had such a wonderful time in Australia it was hard to leave. In fact, Frank didn’t. He stayed another 10 days to spend time with his folks and family members. Simon Higgins had become a good friend by then and Tom, Baron and I felt a bit sad saying good-bye. The audiences at all the gigs were very attentive and enthusiastic listeners who gave us reason to play our best and the staff of the clubs we played treated us well. We hope we can come back every year or so and continue to play for and develop our audience in Australia.

As soon as I got back to the States I traveled to Central Oregon for my son Ian’s high school graduation! I was so proud to see him get his diploma, he worked hard for it and finished with a 3.9 GPA! Upon arriving home from the graduation I was invited over to producer Walter Afanasieff’s studio to play on some tracks of the band he was producing. It turned out to be Savage Garden which seemed like a coincidence since they are an Australian group and I had just met their road drummer, Karl Lewis, at the Vital Info gig in Brisbane. I played on three songs and I quite enjoyed the music so I hope I end up on the CD (you never know about these things.)

After the sessions, I went out and did a short clinic tour sponsored by Zildjian, Remo and Vic Firth which was a lot of fun for me. I love getting out and playing solo drums for my fellow drummers, answering questions and just talkin’ shop. I have recently started using two kits at my clinics. The large “fusion” kit and also the small Sonor Jungle Set. This way I can do the jazz/rock/fusion type playing on the larger kit and then play in a completely different concept on the smaller “be-bop” kit. The first stop was Edison, N.J. on July 11th for the Sam Ash store. The 12th was Cleveland, OH also at Sam Ash. The 13th was Dallas, TX at Brook-Mays and I ended on the 14th in the LA area at the Canoga Park Sam Ash. In addition to Jair Neciosup who is my friend and West Coast Zildjian rep, Russ McKinnon, Mike Mangini, and Freddie Gruber all showed up to that clinic. We had a great hang afterwards, staying up until all hours listening to Freddie’s never ending “Be-Bop” stories. Thanks to all the people who attended the clinics, you asked interesting questions and were enthusiastic listeners. Also thanks to the staff of the music stores who hosted the clinics, you treated me first class all the way.

This summer we didn’t tour so we could have some quality family time and try to slow down a little. Tom and his wife Donna had a lot of work to do to prepare for their daughter’s wedding. I’ve know Kim Coster since she was about 11 years old so it was quite moving to see her marry her sweetheart, Skeet, on July 17th in a beautiful out-door ceremony at the family ranch in Northern California. Now Tom and Donna can relax a bit.

For the rest of the summer and into September we’ll be taking some time off, listening to the live tapes we recorded and mixing them sometime soon. We will also be slowly preparing for our next studio recording. This kind of work we do individually, thinking about the direction, talking to each other on the phone, sending each other tapes and e-mails and zeroing in on the concept. We have the last week of September and the first two weeks of October booked to write and record. This should be enough time to come up with a strong follow up to Where We Come From. We know we’ll continue with the Hammond B-3/Jazz Guitar sound and with Baron on board it will be fonky! I’ll be working on some new grooves and Tom, Baron and Frank will be coming up with their new ideas too. We’ll write most of the music when we get together and jam and just let the creativity flow.

We are all looking forward to making some new music and then hitting the road again in 2000!

Thank you all for your ongoing support, Steve Smith

Keep in touch with us at: http://www.vitalinformation.com