For Steve Smith, it's been a wonderful 'Journey'

[tater1977]

For Steve Smith, it's been a wonderful 'Journey'

Thursday May 28, 2015
http://readingeagle.com/weekend/article ... ul-journey

By John A. Zukowski -- Reading Eagle correspondent

Steve Smith was devoted to jazz from an early age. So when a young Smith saw the Beatles for the first time, he spotted what many jazz drummers did."My first thought was that he didn't know how to hold his sticks," Smith said laughing. "I really appreciate the Beatles and love Ringo's drumming, but I guess by the time I was 10, I was already a jazz snob.

"Smith's love of jazz comes through on his new album, "Viewpoint," which is a mixture of jazz classics and original songs. That 50/50 blend is in keeping with the classic jazz label Blue Note tradition, he said. One of the songs is a version of Dave Brubeck's classic "Take Five," plus there's an innovative take on Sonny Rollins' "Oleo," and one song features him playing just mallets.

Smith defines range and innovation in drumming.He's one of the most versatile and acclaimed drummers of the past few decades. Modern Drummer magazine readers voted him the Best All-Around Drummer five years in a row, and the magazine named him one of its Top 25 Drummers of All Time.He regularly tours with three different ensembles: Vital Information, Jazz Legacy and Buddy's Buddies, which pays tribute to legendary drummer Buddy Rich. Smith will be bringing members from all three of his bands for what he's calling the Vital Information NYC Version to Building 24 Live in Wyomissing on Saturday night.

But for all the acclaim as a great jazz and jazz-fusion drummer, there was that whole rock star phase, which, amazingly, he kind of fell into.It started in the 1970s when Smith was gaining attention for his work with Jean-Luc Ponty and jazz-rock fusion music. With his reputation growing, in 1978 he was hired by guitarist Ronnie Montrose to be in his band for the middle slot of a triple bill, with a young Van Halen opening the show.

The headliner was Journey, a band that began as a combination of prog rock and jazz-rock fusion. After the three-month tour concluded, Journey asked Smith to join the band."I never heard Journey before, and hearing them playing live, I loved the music," he said. "It was their first tour with Steve Perry, and they played a lot of the 'Infinity' album and a lot of their fusion material, so it sounded exciting. I wanted to explore rock drumming more."Smith couldn't have joined at a better time. The band was about to explode in popularity.

In just a few years, the band jumped from playing concerts in 2,000-seat auditoriums to 15,000-seat arenas to 50,000-plus seat stadiums, including one gig in 1983 at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium. Smith spent his formative years from 24 to 30 in the band that attained a level of success few others achieve. But it took its toll."We were all very young, and of course we didn't handle it well," he said. "So personal relationships didn't go that great because of all the stress of having to perform at a certain level live and make records when there were such high expectations.

"From a drummer's perspective, some of his favorite Journey songs to play live were "Mother Father," "Escape" and "Don't Stop Believin'," on which he had a vital part in creating the music. While the band was writing the song in the studio, he started hearing what he calls counter melodies in his head and went home and developed an innovative drum part."It was open-handed, which means playing the left hand on the hi-hat and the right hand on the snare drum," he said. "It took some coordination to work it out. But when I brought it to the studio, the band and the producer loved it, and in the mix of the song, the drums are very prominent."Despite Journey's massive commercial success, it was dismissed by many rock critics at the time.

A notorious review in Rolling Stone described singer Steve Perry as sounding like "a eunuch under attack."But over the years, Journey's music, and particularly "Don't Stop Believin'," has endured. With its Springsteen-like lyrics that have a combination of hope and grittiness, and featuring memorable keyboard and drums parts, it's become a cultural mainstay. It was used for the final episode of "The Sopranos," the emotional conclusion of the first episode of the TV show "Glee" and has served as an anthem for several sports teams.

When Smith and the band parted ways in 1986, he returned to playing jazz. He rejoined for a brief reunion in the mid-1990s, but that fell apart when an injury to Perry prevented the band from touring and a new singer was hired to replace him. Smith wasn't interested anymore.Over the years, lucrative offers still come for him to rejoin Journey, which still tours with yet another lead singer substituting for Perry, but he has turned them down."One way of looking at it is that you'll play the same 15 or 20 songs for the rest of your life," he said. "Of course you can make a lot of money, but all I can say is I can make enough money playing jazz to pay my bills. It is possible to make a living playing jazz.

"Another thing he does is crisscross the country leading drum clinics, master classes and drum camps, sometimes with other star drummers. But don't think it's anything like the military-style drum teacher in the movie "Whiplash," for which J.K. Simmons won an Academy Award."It's an exciting movie and it's good to see a movie about drumming, but it's not anything like reality," he said. "And as far as his practice technique, it's all wrong. You have to be relaxed to make sure all the emotions are there. You can't play so fast that your hands bleed. A movie I'd rather talk about and could relate to was 'Birdman,' where Antonio Sanchez played amazing drum parts.

"Smith no longer regularly plays arenas and stadiums like he did with Journey, but he tours often to play for enthusiastic audiences, and said he's happier than ever with his music.And for all the places he's been, Smith has a fondness for Reading. The last time he played in Berks County, the show was recorded, and two of the songs are bonus live tracks on his new album. So he's looking forward to returning."The audience in Reading is quite educated because they've seen a lot of music," he said. "We have a really great following in Reading, and it's one of our best audiences."

[perryfan61]

I wonder what personal relationships didn't go so great? I always assumed he got on well with Steve, it's hard to imagine him being on the outs with any of them, he's such an all-round nice guy, and one of the best drummers ever. I think he's wise to turn down Journeys invitation......who wants to play the same 15 songs all the time......oh, wait, don't answer that!!

[The_Noble_Cause]

A notorious review in Rolling Stone described singer Steve Perry as sounding like "a eunuch under attack."

If that's a quote, I've never come across it. I thought the description was something like a baby seal being tortured. Am I wrong?

[annie89509]

I wonder what personal relationships didn't go so great? I always assumed he got on well with Steve, it's hard to imagine him being on the outs with any of them, he's such an all-round nice guy, and one of the best drummers ever. I think he's wise to turn down Journeys invitation......who wants to play the same 15 songs all the time......oh, wait, don't answer that!!

I think he was talking about the band in general. No secret to anyone now (after all the retrospectives) that the band disintegrated with strife. Smitty was probably the only one who avoided the fray. But, being the nice guy that he is, lumped himself in the mix of explaining why the band had problems.

[annie89509]

A notorious review in Rolling Stone described singer Steve Perry as sounding like "a eunuch under attack."

If that's a quote, I've never come across it. I thought the description was something like a baby seal being tortured. Am I wrong?

That's was the quote and my understanding, too. The "eunuch under attack" is paraphrasing. What is an eunuch, anyway?

Haha ... never mind, I just looked it up ...

[FamilyMan]

Smitty is one of the most humble, gentle giants of rock that I ever had the pleasure of meeting. He is being more than gracious and generous here - chalking it up to their youth and stress which broke them apart. There is not an ounce of rock star ego in the guy, and it's great to see him so happy.

P.S. The "play the same 15 songs for the rest of your life" quote is quite an observation.