Jimmy Jive minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track Jimmy Jive.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

Upon close listening, you’ll notice that the aptly titled “Groove
Time” and “Jimmy Jive” are the same tune, written by Tom Coster, with two contrasting treatments. For “Groove Time” the band incorporates some Washington, DC “Go-Go” rhythms into the arrangement and for “Jimmy Jive” the band embraces a greasy Jimmy Smith approach. Tom dedicates the latter version to the late B3 master.

Groove Time minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track Groove Time.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

Upon close listening, you’ll notice that the aptly titled “Groove
Time” and “Jimmy Jive” are the same tune, written by Tom Coster, with two contrasting treatments. For “Groove Time” the band incorporates some Washington, DC “Go-Go” rhythms into the arrangement and for “Jimmy Jive” the band embraces a greasy Jimmy Smith approach. Tom dedicates the latter version to the late B3 master.

The Closer minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track The Closer.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

“The Closer” is a fusion tour de force. The band usually writes a larger than life set closer for every recording and there is no doubt that this one provides the fireworks that Vital Information is known for.
This moniker is defined by Vinny and Tom’s searing exchanges, Baron’s virtuosic solo and Steve and Vinny’s blazing duet. “The Closer” is in fact a three-part suite that starts in a swinging jazz-rock mode, moves into a fusion middle section, recapitulates part one with even more energy and culminates – in classic Vital Info style – with a blistering drum solo over a vamp.

You Know What I Mean minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track You Know What I Mean.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

“You Know What I Mean” is quintessential Vital Information. This composition, written by the entire band, is based on some of Smith’s funkiest drumbeats to date. For this tune, Steve combines many different approaches and concepts of funk.

At the beginning we hear the snaky and slippery style of 70s San Francisco funk, he eventually morphs this with some second line feel and later swings hard with a backbeat — some NYC “swunk” — and Baron Browne is with him every step of the way, the two musicians working as one. In his guitar solo Valentino maneuvers the shifting ground by taking chances and landing on his feet.

After Bill Evans’ haunting soprano saxophone enters, Smith introduces a feel reminiscent of Al Foster’s drumming with Miles Davis. This unique approach implies half time and double time simultaneously, giving the soloist lots of room.

Gilad’s melodic congas and Vinny’s wickedly funky guitar serve to further enhance this extraordinarily grooving interlude. Finally, all of the melodic lines reappear, twisting around one another before Evans and Coster trade some angular phrases and take us home.

J Ben Jazz minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track J Ben Jazz.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

While Vinny Valentino’s “J Ben Jazz,” (dedicated to Vinny’s bass playing buddy John Benitez) opens and closes with some inspired conga soloing from Gilad, the tune belongs to bassist Baron Browne. He not only contributes an elegant fretless bass solo, but his harmonic and rhythmic underpinnings really make this tune come alive. After two choruses of bass bliss, the band drops out for Valentino’s serene, yet metrically intricate, chordal solo, which becomes a vamp for Smith’s most powerful solo on the record, which happens to be in 13.

Interwoven Rhythms – Dialogue minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track Interwoven Rhythms – Dialogue.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.  Special guest Pete Lockett on percussion.

On the atmospheric “Interwoven Rhythms – Dialogue” we hear Smith’s doubled konnakol vocal on the left and right sides, while Lockett’s improvisations are heard in the middle. They exchange phrases for the entire composition only joining together in unison near the end of the piece. This all happens over a ethereal and pulsing groove that is propelled by Baron’s fretless bass and Smith’ s new Tala Wands on a sizzling Zildjian Flat Ride.

Seven and a Half minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track Seven and a Half.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

The tune “Seven and a Half,” is based on a tribal sounding drum rhythm that Smith came up with in 15/8, which South Indian musicians call 7 1/2. This drum theme, which Lockett doubles in perfect unison on the kanjira, reappears each time with an altered ending repeated three times before resolving to beat one, what the Indian musicians call a “tihai.”

Unfortunately, tunes written in odd times sometime contain mechanical grooves that never seem to rise above merely stating the “uneven” time signature. However, with Vital Information, this is clearly not the case — this tune grooves hard.

In fact, Smith and the band make the Indian concept of playing in 7 1/2 downright funky. They collectively accomplish this by playing through the “ones” and concentrating on their entire soloing statements instead of the exotic time signature. Note the scorching “rock-guitar” solo after Smith’s outrageous solo; it’s actually a synth solo by Coster!

The Bottom Line minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track The Bottom Line.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.  Featuring Bill Evans on sax.

The title for Vinny’s up-tempo blues “The Bottom Line” has a dual meaning. It is a remembrance of the famous and departed New York City club that the band always loved playing, while the tune itself is framed perfectly by the bottom line bass orchestrations of Baron Browne. This is some of Smith’s most swinging drumming to date and it inspires the rest of the band to do just the same.

Pay close attention to Valentino’s Grant Green inspired half time entrance to his guitar solo. Smith and his new associate show a wonderful telepathy throughout Vinny’s well structured and swinging offering.

The Trouble With minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track The Trouble With.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.  Featuring Bill Evans on sax.

“The Trouble With” kicks-off with some serious rhythm work by the composer; rarely has a rhythm guitar part been used so effectively as an intro. A traditional Motown drum fill escorts Bill Evans’ muscular tenor saxophone into the melody. Both Valentino and Evans’ solos are instigated by duets with the drummer. With Valentino, Smith’s snare and bass drum answer (and occasionally end) the guitarist’s slippery phrases.

Coster forgoes the duet, and cuts right to the point with a super-funky organ solo that stabs and darts, building up to a soulful and gradual explosion from Evans. Smith and Evans begin with a duet that leaves you wanting more and Bill proceeds to weave his way through the solo form as though he’s played it a thousand times. The band then lays down a nice vamp for Steve to solo over, climaxing with some furious single strokes before the final chord.

Get Serious minus drums

From the Steve Smith and Vital Information recording Vitalization, this is the track Get Serious.  This track features Tom Coster on keyboards, bassist Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino on guitar.

“Get Serious” is an exemplary Tom Coster composition — tight unison lines, gorgeous chords, soaring melodies and dynamic basslines. The percussion section of Juan Carlos and Gilad support the melodies as well as the adventurous improvisations of both Valentino and Coster.