Vital Thoughts
by Steve Smith

Hello everyone. Here is an update on the past few months.

Vital Information Tour of Europe 2008

We had a very inspiring tour of Europe in April 2008 playing concerts in Italy, The Czech Republic, England, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands. Each country, venue, and individual audience brings out different facets of a band’s personality.

We had all three percussionists that played on Vitalization perform with Vital Information during the concerts in their area. Pete Lockett played with us in London and Juan Carlos Melián played with us in the Canary Islands.

At the end of the European tour, we played four nights at the Iridium in New York City and percussionist Gilad joined us on our final night. Each percussionist brought a unique perspective and flavor to the group’s sound. You an see some shots from various concerts on the tour on page 5.

George Brooks Summit – recording session

On May 20 and 21, I was in Studio D in Sausalito, CA, recording eight tunes for the new George Brooks Summit album. The music is quite challenging and fun to play.

The tunes have strong influences of both Hindustani and Carnatic music. In the studio both days was George Brooks (tenor and soprano saxes and bandleader/composer), Kai Eckhardt (bass), Fareed Haque (guitar).  I was on the Sonor Jungle Kit playing mainly with my Vic Firth Signature Tala Wands.

On the first day of the recording, we were joined by Frank Martin on piano. Not all of the tunes have titles at this point, but here is an overview of the pieces....We started with “Twenty One,” a tune in the time signature 21/4 divided 6/4, 6/4, 6/4, 3/4; there is a strong 3 over 2 feeling to the groove. We moved into “Casting” and “Lalitha,” two very lyrical pieces that have a lot of Western harmony. We concluded the day with “Eleven” which is a tune that has many repeating and overlapping themes in 11/4. This was the most difficult tune of the day but by 8:30 p.m., we had a good take "in the can."

The following day was dedicated to four more tunes, “Peshkar,” a piece that is in 4/4 but the rhythm is broken up 5/4, 6/4, 5/4. I used mallets throughout and the vibe is quite haunting and trance-like.

We then played “Sri Rollins,” an up-tempo nod to Sonny Rollins on Rhythm Changes and also includes some South Indian rhythmic devices. Then, we blasted through “New Blues” which was very up and funky with some wild melody lines, and extended solos by George and Fareed. I played some South Indian percussion compositions which I doubled with konnakol.

We concluded the session with a very slow moody piece in the raga “Madhuvanti.” George will be taking the tracks to India for some overdubs that will feature some guests on various percussion and melodic instruments.

George Brooks Summit – Concerts in Mexico City

The next morning, the band met at San Francisco International Airport  where we were joined by Zakir Hussain to travel to Mexico City. We played two sold out concerts at El Lunario, Auditorio Nacional Recital Hall on Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25.

It is always such a treat to play with Zakir and this encounter was no exception. As it happened, Antonio Sanchez was in his hometown of Mexico City Saturday and he dropped in to see the concert and hang out after the show.

Mark your calendar for next April, 2009! I will be doing some teaching with Zakir at Carnegie Hall during the week of April 13-19. Then, we have a Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 27, featuring Zakir on tabla, T. H. Vikku Vanayakram on ghatam, Giovanni Hidalgo on congas, and me on the drum set.

Click here to learn more!

Drum Legacy DVD/CD

The long awaited new DVD/CD from Steve Smith's Drum Legacy – Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants is now available in my online store. Click here to pick up a copy! It has over five hours of live footage, interviews, and more!

All the best!
 

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