More Live Footage

By MICHAEL HOCHANADEL
Schenectady Daily Gazette - April 15, 2006 - Life and Art

SCHENECTADY - Shortly before playing the Van Dyck on Friday, Vital Information bandleader and drummer Steve Smith decided he wanted the show recorded, and the club’s engineer Pat Tessitore raced home for a tape machine. If you see a Vital Information CD with “Live at the Van Dyck” on the label, buy it immediately.

In the first of two sold-out shows, the quartet detonated a fusion jazz masterpiece of overwhelming skill, smarts and strength. Smith, guitarist Frank Gambale, bassist Baron Browne and keyboardist and accordion player Tom Coster played as fast as they could think, and they thought very quickly. Most tunes sprang from the group’s 2004 “Come On In” album, playing with veterans’ fearless assurance and well-honed ensemble unity.

On tour for three weeks now, they were sharp from the first notes of “Time Tunnel,” an episodic light-funk number from “Come On In,” alternating straight-ahead riffing with murky detours and dazzling, tight harmony passages. The Coster-written title track featured Gambale in two solos, the second better than the first, with zippy triplets, blinding runs up and down the neck and jittery strums. The intro to “Around The World” soared on Gambale’s airy chords until Coster’s keyboard counter-melody elbowed it aside; then the whole band knocked both themes together and rocked them.

Smith emerged from a mostly supportive role in “Perfect Date,” following Gambale’s fiery, fast solo with a solo of his own that arced into double-time as the band swung a crisp vamp behind him. Coster strapped on his accordion for “Europa,” which he co-wrote with then-boss Carlos Santana years ago. His flying-fingered outburst was the best feature of this charming tune, though Browne’s bass break lit up the B-section, a jazz waltz, with Jaco-like trebly runs.

“Baton Rouge” was a National Geographic of a song in 5/4, with globe-spanning funk, Afro-beat, Cajun, Zydeco and Indian episodes that slammed into a thrilling unison coda. “A Little Something” offered something to all the players, though Smith’s thrilling display of musical juggling set the bar really high early on. Among other tricks, he hit one stick with the other, the second stick in turn hitting a cymbal for a zippy two-beat. The band charged in sharp, sparse and speedy, framing Gambale’s tricky stop and go solo, then Coster’s daring accordion outburst. Smith almost stole the spotlight from Gambale’s expansive second solo by playing hard and fast just on the hi-hat.

Earlier on, he played an entire inventive kaleidoscopic solo on just hi-hat and cymbals; at another point, the band flying, he lowered his hands and played a throbbing double-time break with just kick drum.

However, the enthusiastic crowd wasn’t just beefy guys in Zildjian t-shirts, there to watch Smith sizzle and smash. For four not-so-young follicle-challenged guys, Vital Information drew a few tables-full of women. The music was, among many other things, pretty sexy.

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