Steve Smith & Vital Information - 30th Anniversary Tour
Ottawa Tavern, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Saturday, June 23, 2012
I am a fan of jazz fusion music, and certainly have some instrumental CDs which feature drummer Steve Smith. Steve may be more remembered for his time with the melodic rock platinum selling Journey, during their peak years in the 80s. But, Steve is also a very versatile and skillful jazz drummer, which led to him forming Vital Information in the early 80s. Having heard the band was going to be performing at Grand Rapids "Ottawa Tavern", I knew it was a show not to be missed.
The band featured Steve on drums, Tom Coster on keyboard and accordion, Baron Browne on bass, and Vinny Valentino on guitar.
The band played two sets. For the first set, the crowd looked to be around 75-80 (maybe 100). I am not familiar with the song titles, so I am not able to include those. During the opening song, you could tell something had gone wrong with the drum kit, but we didn't know exactly what was up. Turns out, Steve had broken the bass drum head - something he said he hasn't done in 30 years. So, they took a short break while Steve and their tour assistant changed the head. This involved moving around most of the drum kit, which seemed to effect the rest of the set. Although they sounded great, they seemed to be a bit "off" their groove. The set included a great drum solo by Steve (very melodic), a nice ballad featuring Tom on the accordion, and some great "George Benson" type guitar work from Vinny. While they had the accordion out, the band played a Zydeco flavored tune, which was a nice change in style. Steve also featured his skills at "Konnakol", which he told us was "the art of performing percussion syllables vocally." It is pretty cool, so look it up. After about 90 minutes, they ended the first set.
I got to stay for the second set, with a small crowd of about 30 of us - WAY to small a turnout for such a quality band. But, what I first noticed was that the band seemed more relaxed. The entire set seemed more funky and featured the entire band more. This time we got bass solos, extended guitar solos, and less drum solo work. The set did feature entirely different music, and no technical difficulties (no broken drum heads). Generally speaking, I liked the second set better, if only because it seemed like the band was having more fun.
I truly appreciate how Ottawa Tavern managed to book this show - a great catch for Grand Rapids. It is a shame that the Grand Rapids jazz fans didn't get out to support this show. Big missed opportunity.
Thanks for my friend Mike for joining me for the evening, as well as running into fellow bass player Randy Goble.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Part 2:
Stick Men, Adrian Belew Power Trio, Crimson ProjeKct
The Intersection, Grand Rapids, Michigan
June 24, 2012
In a great grab by The Intersection club, Grand Rapids was treated to a 3 hour prog fest featuring King Crimson music. The combined "Crimson ProjeKct" group is currently opening Dream Theater's tour, but playing their own shows on "off nights" from Dream Theater. This was one of those "off nights".
Tony Levin has his "Stick Men" group, which features himself on "Chapman Stick", Pat Mastelloto on drums, and Markus Rueter on "Touch Guitar". This trio tore through some of Tony's solo material, some of the tracks from their Stick Men releases, and a track from a Robert Fripp solo release. They also performed their interpretation of the Firebird Suite. Overall, a nice opening set.
Next up with Adrian Belew and his power trio. The group features Adrian on guitar/vocals, Julie Slick on bass guitar, and Tobias Ralph on drums. This trio stuck to some of Adrian's solo music, which I am not very familiar with. But, they also included a couple Crimson tunes they put their on stamp on. A very "jam band/improv" type set, with tons of odd tones and textures. Pretty much what you expect from Adrian, right?
After a 15 minute intermission, we got the "Crimson ProjeKct" set. Tony, Pat, and Adrian came out to start the "Crimson centric" set. They opened with "Three of a Perfect Pair", which was nicely done by just the three musicians. They moved on through "Elephant Talk" and a couple other tunes before the others all came out. This put 6 musicians on stage, and allowed them to replicate later era Crimson stuff (the two trio era music). Pat, Tony, and Adrian had their roles down. Tobias did a nice job of filling the "Bill Bruford" role, while Markus covered much of "Robert Fripp" guitar parts and sounds. Julie got to hold down the low end grooves for the set, while Tony dabbled with his stick or other parts. They pulled off "Thrak" well, while Adrian created all sorts of weirdness (including the power drill on his guitar bit). Of the many great moments, I especially liked their intro to "Indiscipline". The two trios traded the opening of the song, giving each drummer a chance to solo and mess with the beat, before handing back to the other trio. It was a very cool thing to watch live. "Red", "Frame By Frame", and even the goofy "Dinosaur" were shared with the small audience (I'd estimate around 200-250). They started wrapping up things with "Thela Hun Ginjeet", where Tony had his "funk fingers" for use on his regular bass guitar (not the stick). Generally speaking, they stuck to 80s and 90s era King Crimson material, so no "20th Century Schizoid Man" or similar. What I did notice is that the set was more focused and avoided the long slow improv sections that had become common with later era Crimson.
All three bands seemed to be enjoying the evening, and Pat Mastelloto seems to have the most fun creating different percussion loops and sounds to fill out things (all while still playing his required drum parts). Adrian and Tony appeared to be having fun with the Crimson music, while getting a chance to also share their own stuff. Tobias was amazing at working alongside Pat, and also adding his own style. Julie and Markus added those necessarily parts to help fill out the missing Fripp while letting Tony have more freedom to overlap bass parts.
After 3 hours, everyone had gotten more than their money's worth. It was a great evening of progressive music, with a bit of classical and improv thrown in.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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