I am a huge fan of Smith's for many many yrs...
[It's OK; i still think you're cool, Rudy] [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Check out VI 1, Orion [IF you can get your hands on them - good luck!], Fiafiaga, & Vitalive [Gambale's on there too] if you want to hear Stv at some of his finest...
There are also 2 Jeff Berlin albums, the 1st being Vox Humana - Champion [Neil Peart's also on 2 trax, 1 of which is also w SS playing on it with him AW]; another being Players [w Scott Henderson & T Lavitz fr the Dregs - that benr was talking about a little while ago & posted an mp3 of] that has some exemplary SS playing, altho the music or certain sounds might be a little dated for some[?], but i don't think so...of course, the other musicians on these are equally as stellar players... [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
Check 'em out, if you can...goood stuff...
You know, in some ways, i like his swing feel better than DW's, not so much necessarily from a technical standpoint [even tho he can be very "technical"], but from the more loose, swingy feel he gets, which feels to me more like it came from Elvin & DeJ...it just feels more like what swing is commonly understood to feel like...& his phrasing in jazz is every bit as viable as some of the other heavyweights we speak of in here...
[mind you, that's not to say that we all don't know that DW is still the friggin monster that he is] ;=)...
...& you are right, that VI tune has some blistering up-tempo swing, which is 1 of the things that i really dig about Stv...you can't take away that he's a strong all-around musician...he's got some chops from heck, too, man...& he is & can be VERY musical, AW...he's a great contemporary-meets-trad. jazz drummer...AND, the guy plays with passion, fire, & "Big Juevos," man...i don't know what some guys mean by he's too technical or stiff - i think the guy's got frikkin heart man...i mean, fire...i am listening to All That Is right now...
Check out the intro to it, for one thing, there; heck, the whole tune FTM...the phrasing, right aft the intro sax/gtr/[poss. light keys AW] set-up, when the drums start...nice jazzy stuff, man...he's very musical, IMHO...& Wilzcewski [sax] & Dean Brown deliver devastating crescendo solos...this tune frikkin ROX man...
The guy's been on so many diff recordings of so many diff styles - how can ya begrudge him? [not you personally, Rudy - you're a great addition to this forum ;=)]...
If NP were half the drummer that SS is, he'd be twice the player he is ;=)...
[Notice i didn't say SS was an incredibly funky player, as, say, DC or others...;=)...some guys used to say "he's a little 'too white,'" if you GMD...but, hey, he is what he is, & he's very good at what he's good at/what he does... [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] ...besides, he has stated he loves Weckl's, Dennis', Vinnie's, & Virgil's playing [NTM Tony, Elv, & DeJ]...
...what some folks find "lacking" in his feel or time is exactly what draws me to him [& reportedly, many of the other great musicians that play & have played with him, including Gambale]...like Peter Erskine, he has a very smooth, liquidy feel, a breathing looseness, which makes the music feel good, & not be so "robotic," so "even-steven," machine-like...if i want spot on meter to the point of ridiculous perfection [which i also dig a great deal], i'll listen to DW or Virg ;=)...SS has a "cool jazz cat" vibe to his approach that i don't mind at all...altho i would say in these later yrs his meter has improved, not that it was ever truly "bad" [to me, that's kind of like "splittin' hairs" ;=)]; he was just, well, human...but at this point in this modern era of drum machines & most "everything to the click," well, you know ;c)...
...[BTW: I do also agree w benr sometimes in the sense that everything doesn't always have to swing all the time, tho ;c)...]
OK, enough of my "in defense of Smith" rant ;=)....
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 23, 2004 05:48 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
I'm listening to Husband again and what fire and energy...he doesn't hold back and it usually sounds very good...and some nice Tony licks in there...he sounds as fiery as Tony did...as well as ballsy...
I like the sound of this Steve Smith better than the current Swinging Steve Smith. His licks were flashier and crazier...I'm still floored by how smooth and quick his flam technique was. I don't hear him pulling them off like that much anymore.
Gots to concur w/ Fuse.......SS is way cool. I've loved his playing for a long while. "Players" is a great album. I sat 5 feet from Steve in Schenectady, NY this month. He can swing!
Orig by benr -
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Don't worry...he still can. ;c)I like the sound of this Steve Smith better than the current Swinging Steve Smith. His licks were flashier and crazier...I'm still floored by how smooth and quick his flam technique was. I don't hear him pulling them off like that much anymore.
One of the main things that Smith used to "complain" about [not really, tho ;c)], was that when he was "coming up the ranks" of study, he was learning the "internalized, free-time" way, instead of constantly with a click...that, early on, he would have a little trouble with heavy recording sessions to the click...but since those days yrs. ago, he has been turning this around...
...Besides the occasional "he overplays sometimes" comment [thay NEVER said he couldn't be very musical], the only other thing I used to hear some other drummers [not necessarily other instrumentalists!] critique him on way back then was that he was "too white" [4give me, please don't any1 misenterpret that; no slam here, just repeating a verbally descriptive device used by cats to describe his feel; many of you will know what is meant by that - you know, not quite "funky" enough, or, sometimes, not "on or on-top-of the beat" enuf]...but no one ever ragged on his jazz, fusion, or rock playing...
I just always felt he was an positive & extraordinary contribution to the art/playing field.... [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 23, 2004 06:11 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
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