Steve Smith + Vital Information

Thursday 10th April - Saturday 12th April
£20.00 - £36.00

Information on Steve Smith + Vital Information

Steve Smith’s expansive yet focused drumming has graced hundreds of soul, pop and jazz sessions and has also worked extensively with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and Ahmad Jamal, picking up Modern Drummer magazine’s ‘Number One All-Around Drummer’ award five times in a row along the way. His jazz-rock fusion four piece Vital Information, which includes Tom Coster on keyboards, Baron Browne on bass and Vinny Valentino on guitar, recalls the elaborate work of groups like Weather Report and Return To Forever, their sound encompassing searing improvisation, slamming funk, intricate melodies and swinging grooves. Now in their 25th year of playing to stunned audiences around the world, one of the most popular groups to have appeared at the club in recent years makes a very welcome return to Ronnie’s.

Steve Smith and Vital Information
The All-Star Soul/Jazz/Funk/Fusion super-group featuring:
Steve Smith - Drums (Steps Ahead/Journey)
Tom Coster – Keyboards (Santana/Billy Cobham)
Baron Browne - Bass (Jean-Luc Ponty/Billy Cobham)
Vinny Valentino – Guitar (Bill Evans/Jimmy McGriff) 

On April 10th and 12th the band will be joined by Pete Lockett on percussion. 
Pete was voted #1 BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2005 by readers of Rhythm
& best live percussionist 2005 on international drum site, mikedolbear.com


Now in their 25th year, Steve Smith and Vital Information, with the all-star lineup of Steve Smith on drums (Journey/Steps Ahead), Tom Coster on keyboards (Santana), Baron Browne on bass (Billy Cobham/Jean-Luc Ponty) and Vinny Valentino on guitar (Bill Evans/Jimmy McGriff) has become a formidable jazz/fusion juggernaut! Their newest release Vitalization (Hudson Music), serves up a veritable banquet of sounds from slamming funk and syncopated second line grooves to seriously swinging, uptempo 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 ten years, Smith has led or co-led fifteen different jazz or jazz/rock projects for the Tone Center label. His educational Hudson Music DVD Steve Smith - Drumset Technique and History of the U.S. Beat is a best seller in the music educational market. Steve is also the bandleader of Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy, a straight-ahead jazz group dedicated to playing music honoring the legacy of many of the great jazz drummers.  Steve Smith is one of the most constantly evolving drummers on the scene today.
Smith is quick to point out that a key to the band’s remarkable versatility is its bassist, Baron Browne. "Baron brought 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. Baron plays great swing, great funk and groove, he can read anything, 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, he is also the bass player in Steve Smith’s straight-ahead jazz group Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy.
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 under him own name and has been a member of Vital Information since 1986. Tom also tours with Billy Cobham and Bill Evans.
Vinny Valentino is the newest member of Vital Information. Vinny 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 George have since developed a close friendship. George 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.
Vital Information recorded four albums for Columbia records, Vital Information (1983), Orion (1984), Global Beat (1986), Fiafiaga (Celebration) (1988) and two recordings for Blue Note; Vitalive! (1991) and Easier Done Than Said (1992). On Intuition Music they released Ray Of Hope (1996) followed by the group’s 1998 recording, Where We Come From, which was a new beginning for Vital Information. The band had decided to reintroduce themselves to their musical roots and the result is a rootsy amalgam which 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 along the way. As a result Where We Come was voted Best Contemporary Jazz Recording Of 1998 by the Association For Independent Music. 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.
On Come On In (2003), Vital Information continued to hone its "U.S. music" direction while staking out some adventurous new territory. Their newest release, Vitalization (2007), features special guests Bill Evan (sax), three percussionist: Pete Lockett (UK), Juan-Carlos Melian (Spain), Gilad (USA) and a new band member: Vinny Valentino on guitar. There isn’t a more flexible and disciplined band of killer players on the jazz scene today than Vital Information.

www.myspace.com/stevesmith

www.myspace.com/stevesmithjazzlegacy

www.vitalinformation.com

www.petelockett.com