Steve Smith news

Just received this from Steve Smith wrt future plans with the various projects he is involved with - the man sure gets around:

Greetings,
     Vital Information is about to leave for a tour of the USA.   Frank Gambale, Baron Browne, Tom Coster and myself are ready for our USA tour with new music from our recently released CD, “Come On In.”  Check our Touring page for details, plus I’ve listed most of the dates below.  Come on down and see the band when we are in your area. 
This has been the busiest musical year of my life!!  There are photo galleries of some of the highlights of my 2004 tour dates at www.vitalinformation.com/
The first part of 2004 was dedicated to a USA tour with Buddy’s Buddies.  I had a ball playing the music of Buddy Rich with Steve Marcus, Andy Fusco, Baron Browne and Mark Soskin.  The band has evolved into a very tight and creative unit that burns every time we hit the stage.  We are already booking dates in 2005! 
     I did a lot of clinics around the world for Sonor, Zildjian, Vic Firth, Remo, DW pedals and Shure.  My tour schedule included a Canadian clinic tour, an Australian clinic tour and, in the USA, many “local chapter” PAS clinics.  Some of the highlights of my clinics were a Toronto clinic/concert duo with South Indian mrdangam maestro, Trichy Sankaran; the Chicago Vintage Drum Show and the Ultimate Drummers Weekend in Melbourne Australia with Gregg Bissonette, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman and Dom Famularo.
     The group Summit, which is comprised of George Brooks (sax), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Fareed Haque (guitar), Kai Eckhardt (bass) and myself on the Sonor Jungle Kit, was able to fit in a short tour in April.    
The members of Vital Information set aside some time in March to record a new CD for Tone Center Records.  It is quite difficult to get everyone together because we all have such busy schedules.  Between my clinics and touring with various groups, Tom Coster touring with Billy Cobham and Bill Evans, Frank Gambale touring with Chick Corea and Billy Cobham, and Baron Browne touring with Billy Cobham as well as being in demand in Boston, finding time to record is almost “Mission Impossible!!”  We spent nine days recording new music that we had worked on over the last year and half of touring and writing.  We’re all very pleased with the results.  We call the album “Come On In.”  I am currently working with my agent, Janet Williamson, booking tour dates to bring our music around the world into 2005.
     Baron and I also found some time to record three tracks for the new Andrea Boccelli record.  My friend Corrado Rusticci produced the three tunes - two of them are on the CD - called “Andrea,” which was released November 9.  I also recently narrated (along with Mike Mainieri) a Hudson Music documentary on the life and music of the great drummer and vibraphone player Lionel Hampton, to be release early 2005.
     During the summer I had the good fortune to tour all over Europe with the all-star band Soul Bop featuring Randy Brecker (trumpet), Bill Evans (sax), Hiram Bullock (guitar), David Kikoski (keys) and Victor Bailey (bass).  We played at some of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe and I was able to see and hear some other great music while on tour.  We shared the stage with Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter, James Brown!!, Dave Douglas, Billy Hart, Marcus Miller and many other incredible artists. The last week of August Soul Bop played at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC.  We recorded the Friday and Saturday night shows for a live CD that will come out in February 2005.
     Also in Europe during the last week of July, I taught at the best “drum-camp” there is, “Rhythm” in Marktoberdorf Germany.  The staff included Ed Thigpen, Jeff Hamilton, Johnny Rabb, Thomas Lang, Russ Miller, Hakim Ludin, Juan-Carlos Melian and Karuna Murthy.  I think the teachers had more fun and learned more from each other than the students.  We all performed together and worked out various duos, trios, quartets and full ensemble pieces.
     In the autumn I did a European clinic tour for Sonor Drums, which took me and Sonor A&R Milan Goltz through Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland and ended up at the “Drummer Magazine Live” event in London, during that gig I had my friend Pete Lockett, an incredible tabla player/world percussionist, join me for an “Indian drumming duet.” For those of you interested in learning more about Indian rhythms check out Pete’s great website: www.petelockett.com
To those of you who have written to me this year, I apologize for not getting back to you.  I have been so busy I haven’t had any time to check my e-mail and answer questions.  At this point, I’ll never catch up!
On a very serious note, Frank Gambale’s mother recently passed away from terminal cancer.  Frank understandably wanted to be in Australia with his family so he did not tour with Vital Information on our recent tour of Europe.  Frank recommended NYC guitarist Vinny Valentino to take his place for the tour.  Vinny did a fantastic job learning the music with two weeks notice, plus Vinny was on tour in Russia with another band at the time.  To check out Vinny go to his website at: www.vinny.com The Euro tour was a great success, to see some pictures of the tour go to the Photo Gallery page on our website.
Coming up in 2005, some Vital Information gigs in Los Angeles, CA and the San Francisco Bay Area as well as Beirut, Lebanon and Moscow, Russia.  Watch the www.vitalinformation.com website for additional tour dates.  I’ll also be touring with Buddy’s Buddies in 2005.  Date will include headlining the Berks Jazz Fest in Reading, PA (March 14) and a week at the great NYC jazz club, The Iridium (March 16-20.  Again the dates are listed on my website as well as below.  In May of 2005 I’ll be touring New Zealand for two weeks as a special guest of the Rodger Fox Big Band, should be fun!
Also, check out my recent features in the November 2004 issues of JazzTimes and DownBeat.  November is National Drum Month so there are many great drummer interviews in those magazines, including Louie Bellson, Ed Thigpen, Jeff Hamilton and Freddie Gruber!
Hope to see you on the road, Steve

VITAL INFORMATION USA TOUR

Saturday, November 27
(VI will open for Garaj Mahal feat.
Fareed Haque & Kai Eckhardt
www.garajmahal.net)
Martyr’s
3855 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
773.404.9869

Sunday, November 28
(Garaj Mahal will open for
Vital Information)
Martyr’s
3855 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
773.404.9869

Monday, November 29
Gilly’s
132 S. Jefferson St.
Dayton, OH 45402
937.228.8414

Tuesday, November 30
The Tralf
622 Main. St.
Buffalo, NY
716.851.8725
www.newtralf.com

Thursday, December 2
Sheraton Reading Hotel
Gerald Veasley’s Jazz Base Club
Wyomissing, PA 19610
610.655.6374
www.berksjazzfest.com

Saturday, December 4
Lebanon Catholic School
1400 Chestnut St.
Lebanon, PA 17042
717.540.1010

Sunday, December 5
Steve Smith – drum clinic
Frank Gambale – guitar clinic
Magdon Music
225 Lackawanna Ave.
Olyphant, PA 18447
For info and tix contact:
Magdon Music 570.383.9413
www.magdonmusic.com

Monday, December 6
Vital Information Concert
The Regal Room
216 Lackawanna Ave.
Olyphant, PA 18447
(near Scranton, PA)
for tickets and info call
Magdon Music 570.383.9413
www.magdonmusic.com

Tuesday, Wednesday December 7 & 8
Blues Alley
1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC
202.337.4141

Thursday, December 9
(Opening act: Frank Bellucci & Pasta Fazool)
The Crazy Donkey
1058 Broadhollow Rd.
(1058 rt. 110)
Farmingdale, NY 11735
631.753.1975

Friday, December 10
The Van Dyck
237 Union Street
Schenectady, NY
518.381.1111

Saturday, December 11
Ryle's Jazz Club
212 Hampshire St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.876.9330

Sunday, December 12
Steve Smith Drum Clinic
Binghamton High School
Helen Foley Theatre
31 Main Street
Binghamton, NY 13905
607.762.8229

Monday, December 13
Vital Information Concert
Binghamton High School
Helen Foley Theatre
31 Main Street
Binghamton, NY 13905
607.762.8229

Thursday, December 16
Steve Smith Drum Clinic 3-5pm
University Nevada Las Vegas
Doc Rando Recital Hall in the
Beam Music Center
4505 Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89154
Tickets: $5.00
For tickets: 702.373.9927

Friday, December 17
Vital Information Concert
Plush Ultra Lounge
Located inside Rampart Casino
221 N. Rampart Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV
Club ph: 702.869.2335
For tickets: 702.373.9927
Tickets: $20.00 in advance, $25 at the door day of show.
For Tickets:
http://www.vegas.com/searchagent/event/SearchResultView.do?i d=10652

2005 Dates

Saturday, January 22, 2005
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Featuring Baron Browne, Frank Gambale,
And Tom Coster
Coast Anaheim Hotel
NAMM party for Gallien-Krueger Bass Amps
(This an invitation only NAMM event, tix available
at the Gallien-Krueger booth at NAMM)
1855 South Harbor Blvd.
Anhaheim, CA 92802

Tuesday, January 25 – Sunday January 30, 2005
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Featuring Frank Gambale,
Tom Coster and Baron Browne
Catalina Bar and Grill
6725 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028
323.466.2210

Wednesday, February 2 – Sunday February 6
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Featuring Frank Gambale,
Tom Coster and Baron Browne
Musikuest - Beirut, Lebanon

Wednesday – Saturday February 9 – 12
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Featuring Frank Gambale,
Tom Coster and Baron Browne
Le Club - Moscow, Russia
V. Radischevskaya, 21
Moscow, Russia
(7) 095.915.1042
www.jazz.ru

Thursday, February 17 – Saturday February 19
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
featuring:
Steve Marcus- tenor and soprano saxes
Andy Fusco- alto sax
Mark Soskin- piano
Baron Browne- bass
In Residence
Crescent School Of Music
Orem, UT 84058
www.crescentschoolofmusic.com
866.566.6874

Tuesday, February 22 -- Wednesday, February 23
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Featuring Frank Gambale,
Tom Coster and Baron Browne
Yoshi’s
510 Embarcadero W.
Oakland, CA 94607
510.238.9200
www.yoshis.com

Sunday, March 13
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
featuring:
Steve Marcus- tenor and soprano saxes
Andy Fusco- alto sax
Mark Soskin- piano
Baron Browne- bass
Centennial High School
Howard City, MD

Monday, March 14
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
featuring:
Steve Marcus- tenor and soprano saxes
Andy Fusco- alto sax
Mark Soskin- piano
Baron Browne- bass
Berks Jazz Festival
Wachovia Theater @ Albright College
13th & Bern Streets,
Reading, PA
www.berksjazzfest.com

Wednesday, March 16-Sunday, March 20
Steve Smith and Buddy’s Buddies
featuring:
Steve Marcus- tenor and soprano saxes
Andy Fusco- alto sax
Mark Soskin- piano
Baron Browne- bass
Iridium Jazz Club
1650 Broadway (and 51st)
NY, NY 10019
212.582.2121
www.iridiumjazzclub.com

Sunday, April 24
George Brooks' Summit
feat: Zakir Hussain, Steve Smith
Kai Eckhardt and Fareed Haque
Palace Of Fine Arts
San Francisco, CA

STEVE SMITH TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
AS THE SPECIAL GUEST OF THE
RODGER FOX BIG BAND
www.rodgerfox.co.nz

Thursday, May 26
Auckland Concert & Clinic

Friday, May 27
Tauranga Concert

Saturday, May 28
New Plymouth Concert & Clinic

Sunday, May 29
Hamilton Concert

Tuesday, May 31
Wellington Clinic

Wednesday, June 1
Christchurch Concert & Clinic

Thursday, June 2
Wellington Concert

Friday, June 3
Napier

Saturday, June 4
Palmerston North Concert & Clinic

Early June
Tentative Buddy’s Buddies
Tour of Australia