Jazziz Podcast #1 Neal Schon - interview

[tater1977]

Jazziz Podcast #1 Neal Schon

July 19, 2015 by Geoffrey Fagien

Listen to Podcast -

http://www.jazziz.com/jazziz-podcast-1- ... LsWI1.dpuf

[perryfan61]

Definitely worth the 45 minutes.....Neal does most of the talking, has some great things to say about Steve Smith, insights into the making of Vortex.

[Majestic]

There were parts that where it is hard to hear the interviewer questions, but definitely worth the time, and Neal shared many interesting tidbits that I had not heard before.

Thanks Tater!

[tater1977]

Steve Smith: Drummer For All Seasons

By R.J. DELUKE, Published: July 20, 2015

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/steve-smith ... width=1093

...If that weren't enough, Smith is the drummer on the recently released Vortex (Theories Recordings) a solo effort by Journey guitarist Neil Schon, that features Jan Hammer on keyboards. "It was fun to get back together with him. It was just the two of us," Smith says. "We came up with music together. He had some songs written, we co-composed some songs and we put a whole album of material together. He played bass and had Jan Hammer play keyboards. It's an instrumental rock album."

Those varied albums display some—but not all—of the ground Smith can cover.

"It depends on what the setting is. Whether it's a rock group, a big band, or small group. Some kind of mix of ethnic musicians," he says. "It depends on what the vocabulary is, what the conception of how we play together is. But the main role is that unification of everyone, so it feels cohesive. That requires listening very closely to what's going on and playing the most supportive way that I can. It helps everyone do what they do and makes it as easy as possible for them to do what they do."

... While with Ponty, the band Journey came to see a Cleveland show and apparently liked what they heard, filing the information away. It was 1978 now, and Smith moved to Los Angeles. There, he auditioned for Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard and rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, who led his own instrumental rock band called Montrose. Smith chose Montrose over the jazz trumpeter.

"I decided to play with him because I was a young 23-year-old guy and that seemed exciting. It was new. I'd never really done that kind of touring in the rock world," recalls Smith. "I loved playing with Freddie Hubbard, but I felt as though I'd really done a lot of that. After playing with Jean Luc on a big fusion drum set, I didn't feel like going back to an 18-inch bass drum and an acoustic bass. So I went with the rock thing."

As fate would have it, Montrose was the opening act for Journey on a three-month tour. At the end of that tour, they asked me to join the group. "They thought that whatever I was doing would contribute positively to their sound. It was an interesting situation. I decided to go with that. So in September 1978 I joined Journey. It was all new and exciting."

The new situation had its challenges. Smith had a reserve of talent, experience and drive to call upon.

"I didn't really know how to play rock songs. I had to discipline myself to play drums in a very compositional way. Which means I needed a particular beat for the verse and then another beat for the chorus and something else for the bridge, then some fills to pull it all together. That was a very different way of conceiving of playing the drums. Before, I was playing time feels behind people. Not necessarily a repetitive beat. Supporting soloists. I hadn't worked with a vocalist really. Someone might sing a pop tune when I was playing a Top 40 gig in Boston, but I wouldn't consider them great singers. Steve Perry was a great singer. That was an education. Part of what was interesting about it was it was so new and I had never done it before. It was a great experience for me."

Meanwhile. Vital Information had been playing off and on since the earlier 1970s. Smith says "Dave Wilczewski, the saxophonist, and Tim Landers, the bassist, we knew each other from high school. We were playing gigs in Boston during off times. Whenever any of us had a break, we would meet up in Boston. When I was touring with Ponty, Tim Landers was touring with Al Di Meola. Dave Wilczewski was touring with Freddie Hubbard. We'd get together and play gigs. We'd bring in a guitarist who was a good friend, like Dean Brown. By the time I got a record deal with Columbia in 1983, it was natural to put that group together with Mike Stern, who I'd played with a lot in college, and Dean Brown and we made that first Vital Information album... I've kept that name and kept on recording albums and doing tours every year since 1983." ...


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http://www.allaboutjazz.com/steve-smith ... width=1093