New Perspective Steve Smith & Vital Information

• 1 Don't Stop Believin' 06:49
• 2 The Perfect Date 05:55
• 3 Charukeshi Express 04:58
• 4 Open Arms 05:55
• 5 Sumo 05:20
• 6 Eight +Five 06:07
• 7 Who's Crying Now 06:14
• 8 Three Of A Kind 04:25
• 9 Josef The Alchemist 03:51
• Total Runtime 49:34

Info zu New Perspective

The current version of Steve Smith’s Vital Information looks to the past for some new inspiration, reinventing gems from the drummer’s career on New Perspective.

Performing songs by Journey, Steps Ahead, and earlier versions of Vital Information along with two recent originals, the trio turns old favorites into contemporary classics.

Steve Smith, who originally became well-known as the drummer with Journey, grew up playing jazz. He has led one of the world’s top fusion-oriented groups, Vital Information, for over 40 years; they recorded their first album in 1983. Today’s version features the powerful drummer in a trio with keyboardist Manuel Valera and electric bassist Janek Gwizdala.

Smith rarely looks backwards but he was so inspired by Valera’s transformation of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’“ into an up-tempo jazz-rock piece, that he decided to record new versions of several songs from his illustrious past. New Perspective consists of revivals of three songs apiece from Journey and earlier versions of Vital Information plus a Michael Brecker composition that the drummer had played with Steps Ahead. But these new recordings are greatly changed from the originals.

The Journey numbers are an infectious rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin,’” “Open Arms” (which Valera has turned into a swinging 3/4 ballad), and Gwizdala’s transformation of “Who’s Cryin’ Now” into a sophisticated jazz exploration. The Vital Information numbers are “The Perfect Date,” an electronic “Charukeshi Express,” and ”Eight + Five” which was originally recorded by a quintet. Brecker’s “Sumo” is fusion that swings in its own colorful way with inspired solos from both Gwizdala and Valera. New Perspective concludes with a pair of Valera originals: the straight-ahead "Three Of A Kind” and a tribute to the late keyboardist and Weather Report founder Joe Zawinul called “Josef The Alchemist.”

Steve Smith began playing drums when he was nine, growing up in the Boston area. After high school he attended Berklee, spent two years playing with the Lin Biviano Big Band, studied with Alan Dawson, and worked with Jean-Luc Ponty during 1976-77, playing on Ponty’s landmark album Enigmatic Ocean. His seven years as the drummer with Journey (1978-85), which was followed by two later stints, made him world famous. In addition to leading several versions of Vital Information during the past 41 years (Time Flies was their 40th anniversary recording), he has been part of several Buddy Rich tribute bands, worked with Steps Ahead, and played with such adventurous jazz musicians as Wadada Leo Smith, Dave Liebman, Ahmad Jamal, Larry Coryell and Hiromi among many others.

New Perspective gives Steve Smith an opportunity to not just revisit some past triumphs but to create brilliant new music. Fans of the brilliant drummer will be pleased.

The music for NEW PERSPECTIVE developed while touring the USA promoting our 40th Anniversary album TIME FLIES. Our keyboardist Manuel Valera and bassist Janek Gwizdala asked me if I was interested in playing any jazz interpretations of Journey songs. That question has been coming up for the past 40 years and my answer has always been “No.”

Ignoring my "No," Manuel decided to come up with a radical treatment of “Don’t Stop Believin.’” We tried it at a soundcheck, played it that night and it got a positive response, which shifted my perspective. On June 29, 2023, near the end of our east coast tour, we stopped at Studio Mozart in Little Falls, NJ to record “Don’t Stop Believin,’” “Open Arms,” plus new versions of Vital Information classics “The Perfect Date” and “Charukeshi Express.” A theme for our next album was born: Record songs that I had previously played on during my career but with new arrangements that are quite different from the original versions, bringing a NEW PERSPECTIVE to the music. - Steve Smith

Steve Smith, drums
Manuel Valera, keyboards
Janek Gwizdala, bass

Steve Smith
Steve's drumming, while decidedly modern, can best be described as a style that embodies the history of U.S. music. Steve is active as a band leader (Steve Smith and Vital Information) as a featured sideman (Mike Stern Group, Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion, Steps Ahead, Hiromi-The Trio Project) and as an educator/clinician.

Steve Smith grew up in the Boston area and started playing drums at the age of nine in 1963. He studied music at the Berklee College of Music from 1972 to 1976 with Alan Dawson and Gary Chaffee as his private instructors. Over the past 45 years he has toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz and rock - appearing on recordings that have sold over 100 million copies worldwide - including Journey, Bryan Adams, Mariah Carey, Zucchero and Jean-Luc Ponty. Other notable jazz artists Smith has played with include Zakir Hussain, Buddy DeFranco, Benny Golson, Ahmad Jamal, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Bill Evans and Hiromi.

Smith produced and played on a series of sixteen jazz albums for the Tone Center label featuring players such as Frank Gambale, Stu Hamm, Oteil Burbridge, Larry Coryell, Jerry Goodman, Howard Levy, Steve Marcus, Scott Henderson and Victor Wooten. His release The Best Of Steve Smith – The Tone Center Collection is a sample of some of his favorite tracks from those collaborations.

Smith is currently touring with his own all-star band Vital Information featuring Manuel Valera (keyboards) and Janek Gwizdala (bass). The lastest Vital Information release is titled Heart Of The City. Vital Information is approaching its 40th Anniversary, as the first Vital Information album was released in 1983. Wounded Bird Records is starting the celebration with the 2022 release of The Complete Columbia Recordings, a four CD set of the first four Vital Information albums. From 2016-2019 Steve Smith toured with the iconic rock band Journey, the group in which he recorded nine albums with massive hits. In 2017 Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Steve Smith was voted “#1 Fusion Drummer” in the 2012 Modern Drummer readers poll. Smithhas previously been voted “#1 All-Around Drummer" in the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll for five consecutive years from 1987-1991. The 2008, 2009 and 2010 Drum! Magazine readers voted Smith #1 Jazz Drummer. In 2001 Steve was named by Modern Drummer Magazine as one of the “Top 25 Drummers of All Time." In 2002, he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame and in 2003 his Hudson Music DVD Steve Smith Drumset Technique - History of the U.S. Beat was voted #1 Educational DVD.” Hudson Music released Steve’s DVD/CD Drum Legacy – Standing on the Shoulders of Giants in 2008, which was voted Best DVD of 2009 by the readers of Drum! Magazine. In 2017 Steve topped an unprecedented three categories in the Modern Drummer poll: #1 Rock Drummer, #1 MVP and #1 Educational Product for his Hudson Music Book/Video Pathways Of Motion. In 2018 MD readers voted Smith #1 Classic Rock Drummer. In 2022 Modern Drummer Magazine published a book that includes all five of Steve's MD cover stories, a new interview, exclusive photos and a download of Smith's solo drumset recording, The Fabric Of Rhythm.

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