Steve Smith Vital Information Time Flies

Daylight Savings Time is Forbert’s 21st album in a remarkably consistent musical career, and the third on which he has worked with well-regarded producer and engineer Steve Greenwell (Joss Stone, Gavin DeGraw). The new album promises to be one of the key releases in 2024, with Steve Forbert demonstrating, once again, that he possesses that magical ability to create new music that sounds both fresh and familiar at once. ‘Sound Existence’ sounds like it’s already one of your favourite songs. Enjoy.

Daylight Savings Time is Forbert’s 21st album in a remarkably consistent musical career, and the third on which he has worked with well-regarded producer and engineer Steve Greenwell (Joss Stone, Gavin DeGraw). The new album promises to be one of the key releases in 2024, with Steve Forbert demonstrating, once again, that he possesses that magical ability to create new music that sounds both fresh and familiar at once. ‘Sound Existence’ sounds like it’s already one of your favourite songs. Enjoy.

Modern electric jazz and the funky soul of the '60s fuse into a rollicking trip down memory lane on WHERE WE COME FROM. Vital Information, the long- lived pet project of leader and world-renown drummer Steve Smith, make a distinctive change from their usual format of hard-edged fusion on this, their eighth album. The emphasis here is on the soulful instrumental grooves of their youth, the music that originally enticed these world-class musicians to take up their instruments in the first place. From the influence of Jimmy Smith, the Meters and Tony Williams' Lifetime, Smith and company serve up a spicy gumbo of groovy tunes and have a grand old time in the process.

Truly one of the greatest 'modern' jazz albums. The album is filled with with wonderfully energetic music. 'Johnny Cat', the song that has gotten air time in local San Francisco Bay Area radio stations was the most popular song, but moody songs like 'In a Low Voice' really show the talents of these well known artists in this genre. I just hit the repeat button for hours to listen to my favorite song on this CD: 'Novato'. Steve Smith is amazingly talented and the talent that he assembles for this album is most impressive.

This tenth recording from the now legendary quartet reminds listeners that, while smooth jazz often gets better press, there are still fans of honest to God inventive electric fusion who will eat up this type of powerfully rocking and energetic project. Bassist Baron Browne joined the core trio of Steve Smith (drums), Frank Gambale (guitar), and Tom Coster (keyboards) in 1998, and provides a rollicking bouncy energy throughout on tunes like the feisty Herbie Hancock ode "Soul Principle" and the '60s soul-jazz-flavored "Cat and Mouse" (featuring some of Coster's slyest Hammond B-3 lines).