Vital Information
Tom Coster
Hammond B-3 organ, Fender Rhodes,
accordion
Frank Gambale
guitar
Baron Browne
acoustic & electric basses
Steve Smith
drums
Tracks
1. Tunnel Vision
2. Beneath
the Surface
3. Cat Walk
4.
Around the World
5. Soho
6. A Little Something
7. From
Naples to Heaven
8. Baton Rouge
9. Fine Line
10. High Wire
Album Credits
Coming soon... |
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Expanded Liner Notes for Come On In
Acknowledging his
appearance on a string of five mega-selling
albums with arena rock kings Journey, Columbia
Records deigned to throw drummer Steve Smith a
bone back in 1983. What Smith did with that
golden opportunity was to record Vital
Information, a hard-hitting instrumental project
that harkened back to his incendiary late '70s
work with fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and
with guitarist Ronnie Montrose. He followed up
that solo release with a tour, a second record,
Orion, and... voila!... a band was born.
"The history of that first record is that I had
known the bass player, Tim Landers, and the sax
player, David Wilczewski, since high school,"
recalls Smith. "We played together in '71 and
'72 in the Bridgewater State College big band in
Massachusetts. The three of us were actually
high school students from different schools that
they brought in because they didn't have enough
players in the college big band. We met then and
continued to play through the years. Even during
the time when I was playing with Jean-Luc Ponty,
Ronnie Montrose or Journey, and Tim was playing
with Al Di Meola and Dave was with Al Kooper, we
still got together once a year and played gigs
in Boston. Eventually, by '83, I was able to get
a record deal on Columbia. That's when I came up
with the Vital Information name and we did our
first record with Mike Stern and Dean Brown on
guitars, both were old friends from the Berklee
College of Music. So basically Vital Information
was just a bunch of friends getting together and
having a good time making a real record on a
major label. And it just kept going from there,
I wanted to keep the band going as an outlet for
whatever I was interested in musically and
creatively, and to play with the people that I
really wanted to play with."
Now in its
21st year since that initial release, Vital
Information has become a formidable fusion
juggernaut whose longevity surpasses the Zawinul
Syndicate, Tribal Tech and even Weather Report.
With various personnel changes over the years,
(bassist Kai Eckhardt played on 1988's Fiafiaga,
acoustic bassist Larry Grenadier and saxophonist
Larry Schneider played on 1990's Vitalive!,
electric bassist Jeff Andrews joined in '92 on
Easier Done Than Said), Vital Information
continued to evolve while refining its
distinctive sound. As Smith points out, "It was
a little more rock and fusion oriented at the
beginning and then it went through a phase where
we were doing things on the computer, which
reflected a lot of what was going on at the time
in the late '80s. Keyboardist Tom Coster joined
the group on Global Beat in '86 and guitarist
Frank Gambale started with us in '88 on Fiafiaga.
In the early '90s we stopped using the sax and
later we reinvented ourselves with a more
organic approach of featuring Tom on the Hammond
B-3 and Frank on the jazz-box guitar and by
going after the looser/funkier U.S. Beat vibe."
That new direction came in with 1998's Where
We Come From, a rootsy amalgam which ran the
stylistic gamut from James Brown funk to Booker
T & The MGs Memphis soul to searing Tony
Williams Lifetime-inspired fusion while making
further allusions to jazz icons like Buddy Rich,
Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and Ornette Coleman
along the way. That Americanized formula became
more clarified on 2000's Live Around The World,
which introduced electric bassist and longtime
Jean-Luc Ponty sideman Baron Browne to the Vital
lineup. Their group chemistry solidified on
2001's Show 'Em Where You Live.
On the
band's 11th album, Come On In, Vital Information
continues to hone its "American music" direction
while staking out some adventurous new
territory. With this third Vital Information
recording to showcase the ongoing lineup of
Smith, Coster, Gambale and Browne, the listener
is invited to a veritable banquet of sounds to
satisfy a wide variety of tastes. From slamming
funk and syncopated second line grooves to
seriously swinging, uptempo B-3 burners, South
Indian Carnatic inspired jams and sizzling
fuzoid romps, these seasoned veterans cover a
lot of bases on Come On In and do it all in such
convincing fashion.
Vital founder Smith
is quick to point out that a key to the band’s
remarkable versatility is its bassist. "Baron
brought a real serious groove element to the
band," says Smith of his rhythm section partner.
"He's my favorite bass player to play with
because he can play all the styles and he always
makes the music feel so good. Baron plays great
swing, great funk and groove, he can read
anything and play in all the odd time signatures
and he can play over changes really well. It's
hard to find bass players who can do all of
that, so he really matches up with me well."
Opening on a decidedly jazz note with
"Tunnel Vision," paced by Smith's briskly
swinging stickwork and Gambale's brilliant
guitar playing, the highly flexible unit moves
easily and authoritatively to Tom Coster's
kinetic title cut. With Steve's steady hi hat
pulse and the tricky unison figures between
Gambale's guitar and Browne's electric bass,
this bass feature is reminiscent of Jaco
Pastorius' chops-busting anthem "Teen Town." On
the freewheeling acoustic trio improvisation
"Beneath The Surface," Smith eschews the traps
set here for the African clay pot Udu drum,
setting up a groove underneath Coster's
accordion and Gambale's steel string acoustic
guitar. That organic jam serves as an intro to
the pumped-up, electrified funk-fusion offering
"Cat Walk," which features ripping solos by Coster on B-3 and Gambale on clean-toned guitar
wailing over a 7/8 groove.
"Around The
World" bears the stamp of New Orleans' premier
ambassadors of funk, The Meters. Note how Brown's slippery yet deeply-rooted basslines
here form a moving, grooving pocket with Smith's
convincing second line beat in 9/4 capturing
that inimitable push-and-pull feel that marked
so many of The Meters' '60s and '70s hits,
courtesy of the great rhythm tandem of bassist
George Porter and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste. On
top of that earthy pocket, Coster layers on
Man-Child-era Herbie Hancock-isms on synth while
Gambale unleashes more of his fiery fretboard
work, culminating in some exhilarating
arpeggiated exchanges with Coster, at the tag of
this infectious groover.
Gambale's "Soho"
is a suitable showcase for his peerless chops. A
swinging midtempo vehicle, it reveals the Aussie
guitar hero's undying love of Wes Montgomery
while also highlighting his patented (and
mind-boggling) sweep picking technique. Gambale
also reveals his fondness for blowing
effortlessly over blues form at breakneck tempos
on his smoking jazz number "A Little Something."
Smith's agile brushwork in tandem with Browne's
insistent walking basslines provides a swinging
foundation for this surging hard bop number. The
sparks really fly during Coster's burning, Jimmy
Smith-inspired B-3 solo while Gambale ups the
ante with another awesome solo that culminates
in a daring guitar-drums breakdown between
Gambale and Smith. The two have been developing
their obvious musical rapport in Vital
Information since 1988 and have further forged
an explosive chemistry together through a series
of power trio recordings with bassist Stu Hamm
(1998's Show Me What You Can Do, 2000's The
Light Beyond and 2002's GHS3).
Gambale's
bittersweet waltz-time number, "From Naples To
Heaven," carries a distinctly Mediterranean feel
with Coster's accordion work. That affecting
piece is a dedication to Frank's late father
Lorenzo, who hailed from Naples, Italy. The
tightly executed, metrically-challenging unison
lines that pop up throughout "Baton Rouge" show
the influence of South Indian motifs on Smith's
U.S. drumming sensibility. As he explains, "The
tune is in 5/4 the drums and bass play 2+3
while the guitar plays 3+2 -- and uses some
South Indian Carnatic rhythmic devises that I've
learned by playing with some fantastic Indian
musicians. The ghatam master T.H. "Vikku"
Vinayakram (a founding member of Shakti) taught
me the rhythm that we used as an ending. We
jammed on the feels and Baron, Frank and Tom
came up with their parts, it's a true band
offering."
"Fine Line," the other
acoustic trio improvisation, again has Smith
switching from drumset to Udu drum alongside
Coster's accordion and Gambale's steel string
acoustic guitar. And the band closes out the
collection in powerhouse fashion with "High
Wire," a full-out fusion effort that recalls
Return To Forever's 1974 fusion anthem "Beyond
The Seventh Galaxy" from Where Have I Known You
Before. This volatile piece is marked by Smith's
aggressive backbeats, precise stop-time unison
lines and a take-no-prisoners approach to
soloing by Gambale, whose ferocious sweeping
demonstration here will simultaneously frighten
and delight aspiring ax-slingers.
There
isn't a more flexible and disciplined band of
killer players on the jazz scene today than
Vital Information. And they prove it once again
on Come On In.
-- Bill Milkowski
Bill Milkowski is a regular
contributor to Jazz Times, Jazziz, Bass Player
and Modern Drummer magazines. He is also the
author of "JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic
Life of Jaco Pastorius" (Backbeat Books) |
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"Vital
Information
has
evolved
from a
relentlessly
rocking
fusion
outfit
into a
supple,
funk-driven
ensemble,
far more
attuned
to the
dynamics
of
acoustic
jazz on
their
new
recording,
Come On
In,
expands
upon its
rootsy
approach,
building
on the
fierce
funk and
captivating
New
Orleans
beats."
--
Andrew
Gilbert,
Down
Beat
"Vital
Information
is one
of
improvised
music's
best-kept
secrets,
the
tunes
are
adventurous
and they
always
groove.
The
musicians
shoot
for, and
achieve,
real
emotion
rather
than
soulless
fireworks."
--
Felix
Contreras,
JazzTimes
"Vital
Information
means
business
on their
11th
album.
Hard to
believe
this
project
started
21 years
ago
Smith is
the
perfect
blend of
virtuosity
and
taste,
America's
premier
jazz/fusion
export
continues
to get
better
with
age."
--
Don
Zulaica,
Drum!
"Drummer
Smith
and this
powerhouse
band
prove
once
again
they are
just
about
the best
fusion
band in
music."
--
Bob
Karlovits,
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review
"Vital
Information
is
clearly
moving
towards
the jazz
side of
the
fusion
equation...
while
the band
is
leaning
towards
cleaner,
crisper
behavior,
there
are
plenty
of chops
to keep
fusion
fans
happy...
Come On
In
demonstrates
the
maturity
that
develops
from a
group of
seasoned
players
who have
been
playing
long
enough
to no
longer
have
anything
to
prove.
As much
as the
formidable
skills
of each
musician
are
clear,
Vital
Information
is
becoming
less and
less
about
pure
chops
and more
and more
about
establishing
an
identity."
--
John
Kelman,
AllAboutJazz.com
"Come On
In
features
some of
their
finest
music.
This
set,
which
crosses
many
musical
boundaries,
reveals
Steve
Smith's
Vital
Information
to be
one of
the most
underrated
bands in
modern
jazz..."
--
Scott
Yanow,
All
Music
Guide
Click
here
to
return
to the
Vital
Information
store
page.
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