Look, I’ve seen just about all the great drummers. Not Catlett, Jo or Philly Joe Jones, but definitely Rich, Roach, Cobham, Mason, La Barbera, Bellson and De Johnette, to just throw in a few names. What is it about Steve Smith that makes me watch him more carefully than any other drummer I’ve taken in for the past 50 years? I just can’t stop staring at those hands!
This time around, he came with his 40 year old group of buddies from the Vital Information trio format of Janek Guizdala/b and Manuel Valera/key, playing material from all facets of his career, including Steps Ahead and (though I still can’t believe it) Journey.
Smith and company jumped out of the gates in full force, as the sticks sizzled over the high hat on the hard driving “Tempus Fugit” with his ride cymbal fluttered like a hummingbird around Valera’s synthy shadings and Guizdala’s slithering solo on the kinetic “Emergence”. Then, of course there are those “hand is quicker than the eye” moments where Smith twirls his sticks like a six shooter having just picked off all of the targets on the tricky and kinetic “Choreography in Six” or shifting gears l ike a Formula One driver on the tricky time changer “Eight Plus Five”, which had Smith throwing in the vocal percussion of Konnakol, mixing Southern India with 52nd Street. The funky groove here (“Ill count it off in for so you all get a fair start” joked Smith) along with the searing white heat of “Charukeshi Express” had the formidable drummer snapping his wrists like a Ping Pong master, spinning serves and returns and jaw dropping speed.
And then there was the brush work, with some nifty and smooth work on “Darn That Dream”, tapping out Morse Code messages on the Journey hits “ Don’t Stop Believing” and as crisp as a Versace suit on the moody and dreamy “Open Arms”, guiding the audience around the lyrical Manuela and Gwizdala on “Open Arms”. Smith punched like a middleweight through the hard hitting “Sumo” putting a new coat of paint on the vintage fusion tune, and closed things up with a double timed “What Is This Thing Called Love” that had the high hat beg for mercy.
As mentioned above, there have been many drummers that have graced my ears, and have seen at the illustrious Potato. The question I asked my drummer friend as we exited was “what more can you want from a drummer”, to which he replied “only his inspiration”.
Upcoming shows at The Baked Potato include Rafael Moreira 05/08, Luis Conte 05/10, tu-NER 05/11-12 and Jeff Lorber Fusion 05/15-16