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Steve Smith and Vital Information: Vitalive!

by John Kelman
November 25, 2009

Recorded on tour in 1988 and originally released in 1991, Vitalive! is, in the words of drummer Steve Smith, “the most 'jazz' version of Vital Information to date." It would be easy to argue with Smith, even though he's the group's leader, that VI has always been a jazz band, as evidenced by Come On In (Tone Center, 2004) and Vitalization (Hudson Music, 2007), the latter featuring Vinnie Valentin's more mainstream tone replacing longstanding fusion whiz Frank Gambale. But it's ...