Steve
Smith and Vital Information The All-Star
Soul/Jazz/Funk/Fusion Super-Group
Featuring:
TOM COSTER
- Keyboards (Santana) BARON BROWNE
- Bass (Billy Cobham/Jean-Luc Ponty)
VINNY VALENTINO - Guitar (Bill
Evans/Jimmy McGriff) STEVE SMITH
- Drums (Journey/Steps Ahead)
Now in
their 28th year since their initial 1983
release, Steve Smith and Vital Information has
become a formidable jazz/fusion juggernaut whose
longevity surpasses all of the major fusion
groups.
The all-star lineup of Tom Coster (keyboards), Baron Browne (bass),
Vinny Valentino (guitar), and Steve Smith
(drums) serves up a veritable banquet of sounds,
from slamming funk and syncopated second line
grooves to seriously swinging, up-tempo B-3
burners, South Indian Carnatic-inspired jams,
and sizzling fuzoid romps.
The group's
founder and drummer, Steve Smith, has a resume
that stretches from Ahmad Jamal, Zakir Hussain,
The Buddy Rich Big Band and Steps Ahead to
Andrea Bocelli and Journey. It is no surprise
that he won Modern Drummer magazine's "#1 All
Around Drummer" award five years in a row and
was voted one of the "Top 25 Drummers of All
Time" in a recent Modern Drummer readers poll.
In 2002, Smith was voted into the Modern
Drummer Hall of Fame. In the last eight years,
he has led or co-led fifteen different jazz or
jazz/rock projects for the Tone Center label.
His Hudson Music educational DVD Steve Smith -
Drumset Technique and History of the U.S. Beat
is a best-seller in the music educational
market.
Smith and Vital Information are
constantly evolving, staying at the top of the
game with imagination and creativity. Smith is
quick to point out that a key to the band's
remarkable versatility is its bassist.
"Baron brings a real serious groove element to
the band," says Smith of his rhythm section
partner. "He's my favorite bass player to play
with because he can play all the styles and he
always makes the music feel so good."
Smith adds "Baron plays great swing, great funk
and groove, and he can read anything. He can
play in any odd time signature - plus he can
play over changes really well. It's hard to find
bass players who can do all of that."
Browne has worked in the past with Gary Burton,
Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty, Steps Ahead and
Tom Jones but has never sounded better than he
does with Vital Information.
Unique
multi-keyboardist Tom Coster, whose versatility
ranges from Hammond B3 to accordion, was playing
with Gabor Szabo and Rahsaan Roland Kirk long
before he came to prominence in Santana, a stay
that lasted nine years. He has recorded many
solo albums and has been a member of Vital
Information since 1986.
Vinny Valentino
is the newest member of the band. He began
touring in a progressive rock band while still
in high school.
At age 16, influenced by
the music of George Benson, Vinny began pursuing
jazz as a career. He recalls, "the turning point
for me was hearing George Benson in concert; I
had never heard anybody play like that. It was
an eye-opening experience." Vinny and his mentor
have since developed a close friendship.
Benson refers to Vinny as a "young genius
with brilliant tone and fresh ideas."
Vinny earned his Bachelor of Music in Jazz
Studies at Howard University. Vinny has shared
the stage or recording studio with such jazz
greats as Gary Bartz, Randy Brecker, Bill Evans,
John Pattitucci, Richard Bona, Bob Moses, George
Benson, Steve Gadd, Dennis Chambers, and Jimmy
McGriff.
It all started In 2004 when
Vinny filled in for long-time Vital Information
guitarist Frank Gambale on a four week Vital
Information tour of Europe. He joined the band
as a fulltime member in July of 2006.
The
group's 1998 recording, Where We Come From, was
a new beginning for Vital Information. The band
had decided to reintroduce itself to its
members' musical roots.
The result ran
the stylistic gamut from James Brown funk to
Booker T & The MGs Memphis soul to searing Tony
Williams Lifetime-inspired fusion while making
further allusions to jazz icons like Buddy Rich,
Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and Ornette Coleman.
That Americanized formula became more
clarified on 2000's Live Around The World, and
their group chemistry solidified on 2001's Show
'Em Where You Live. Come On In was released in
2004.
On the band's 12th album,
Vitalization, Vital Information continues to
hone its "U.S. music" direction while staking
out some adventurous new territory. The seasoned
veterans cover a lot of bases on Vitalization
and do it all in such convincing fashion.
There isn't a more flexible and disciplined
band of killer players on the jazz scene today
than Vital Information.
Critical Praise
for Steve Smith & Vital Information
"Vital Information has
evolved from a relentlessly rocking fusion
outfit into a supple, funk-driven ensemble, far
more attuned to the dynamics of acoustic jazz on
their new recording, Come On In, expands upon
its rootsy approach, building on the fierce funk
and captivating New Orleans beats." -
Andrew
Gilbert, Down Beat
"Vital Information is
one of improvised music's best-kept secrets, the
tunes are adventurous and they always groove.
The musicians shoot for, and achieve, real
emotion rather than soulless fireworks." -
Felix
Contreras, JazzTimes
"Vital Information
means business on their 12th album. Hard to
believe this project started 24 years ago Smith
is the perfect blend of virtuosity and taste,
America's premier jazz/fusion export continues
to get better with age." - Don Zulaica, Drum!
"Drummer Smith and this powerhouse band
prove once again they are just about the best
fusion band in music." - Bob Karlovits,
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Vital
Information is clearly moving towards the jazz
side of the fusion equation.... while the band
is leaning towards cleaner, crisper behavior,
there are plenty of chops to keep fusion fans
happy.... Come On In demonstrates the maturity
that develops from a group of seasoned players
who have been playing long enough to no longer
have anything to prove. As much as the
formidable skills of each musician are clear,
Vital Information is becoming less and less
about pure chops and more and more about
establishing an identity." - John Kelman,
AllAboutJazz.com
"Come On In features
some of their finest music. This set, which
crosses many musical boundaries, reveals Steve
Smith's Vital Information to be one of the most
underrated bands in modern jazz..." -
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
