Steve Smith and Vital Information: Time Flies

As with so many prolific drummers, this guy is lean, energized, crisp and knows when to add the snap. Drummer/percussionist Steve Smith's early professional musical explorations were often in the world of jazz as he teamed up with fusion violinist Jean Luc Ponty and the progressive jazz/rock Dutch band Focus for about a year in the late 1970s. He took a call in 1978 from a soon-to-be arena rock band out of San Francisco that went by the name of Journey. Do you want to join? The answer was yes and that initial journey lasted about seven years before his first exit. He returned two other times..

Smith was also passionate about an equally important project, Vital Information, a "member fluid" group that confirmed he would consistently return to his first love—jazz—even if it was a hybrid that went by other names including jazz/rock or fusion. Some Vital Information albums offered a mix of jaunty (mostly) smooth jazz with splashes of edgier sound sensations. With the 2023 release of Time Flies, Smith and company have now released over a dozen VI albums.

The aptly titled "Emergence" launches the disc with a brisk burst of Smith's drumming and is quickly joined by cascading keys courtesy of Manuel Valera. This early momentum continues to propel things forward with Bud Powells rapid "Tempus Fugue-It," originally composed in the late 1940s. Both tracks are built on more rock vs. jazz foundations. Things slow a bit as saxophonist George Garzone joins in on the brief title track, which was accomplished in one take. Garzone helps keep things cool as he tips his hat to the relaxed jazz practitioners of the 1950s. There's a standard ("Darn That Dream,") plus another Powell number ("Un Poco Loco.") After that, the group presents a pensive Mike Mainieri written song ("Self Portrait") with Manuel Valera shining via acoustic piano. Interestingly, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri doesn't officially join the others until the Valera written song, "No Qualm," several tracks later (Mainieri is a one-time guest on vibes this time around). His appearance is one of several elements that keeps the disc fresh and alluring while Smith's accompaniment is courteously understated. Mainieri should stay longer next time. Garzone returns two other times—once on the aggressive, energized and free form "Inception" and, toward the end, on a Cole Porter standard, "What Is This Thing Called Love." Once again, Garzone's sax launches a track with unexpected twists and turns, Smith's drumming dominates near the end and the ensemble sounds merge into uncharted territory, making it difficult to find traces of Porter. The disc comes in for a landing with a composition by electric bassist Janek Gwizdala, "Erdnase."

Gone, at least for now, is the lighter smooth jazz heard on some past Vital Information efforts. Smith maintains a fairly high energy, frantic pace throughout with just a few breaks to let you catch your breath. Ultimately, it's straight-ahead jazz this time around. As for Smith's drumming, there are times he boldly steps front and center while, other times, he's proud to lay back and lend support to the others. Sounds like the definition of a true leader.

The package includes a full-length bonus CD. It opens with John Coltrane's "One Down, One Up" before segueing into the eight part on-the-spot improvisational "A Prayer For the Generations," a group composition credited to Gwizdala, Valera, Garzone and Smith. The Coltrane piece sets the tone as "A Prayer..." launches into a free-flowing exploration of sounds and styles designed to take us to the stars and beyond. It could, and often does, go in a number of directions. After the Coltrane jolt, the quartet is relatively meditative before an abrupt mood shift from Part III to Josef Zawinul's Part IV which marks the midpoint of the piece. There are times Smith's drumsticks create a sort of picket fence as a guide while other times the musicians break out and explore at will. Ultimately, they are a team of equals and each intuitively relies on the other on this nearly fifty- minute, often esoteric, jazz jam.

Note: Steve Smith and Vital Information will be touring in June and July 2023 featuring a pair of festival appearances—Rochester, New York on June 23 and Cleveland, Ohio on June 24—with an extended engagement at New York City's Birdland in the fall.

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