Steve Smith is active as a band leader (Steve Smith
and Vital Information) as a featured sideman (Mike
Stern Group, Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion,
Steps Ahead, Hiromi-The Trio Project) and as an
educator/clinician.
Steve Smith grew up in
the Boston area and started playing drums at the age
of nine in 1963. He studied music at the Berklee
College of Music from 1972 to 1976 with Alan Dawson
and Gary Chaffee as his private instructors. Over
the past 45 years he has toured and recorded with
some of the biggest names in jazz and rock -
appearing on recordings that have sold over 100
million copies worldwide - including Journey, Bryan
Adams, Mariah Carey, Zucchero and Jean-Luc Ponty.
Other notable jazz artists Smith has played with
include Zakir Hussain, Buddy DeFranco, Benny Golson,
Ahmad Jamal, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Michael
Brecker, Bill Evans and Hiromi.
Smith
produced and played on a series of 16 jazz albums
for the Tone Center label featuring players such as
Frank Gambale, Stu Hamm, Oteil Burbridge, Larry
Coryell, Jerry Goodman, Howard Levy, Steve Marcus,
Scott Henderson and Victor Wooten. His release The
Best Of Steve Smith – The Tone Center Collection is
a sample of some of his favorite tracks from those
collaborations.
Smith is currently touring
with his own all-star band Vital Information
featuring Manuel Valera (keyboards) and Janek
Gwizdala (bass). Vital Information is approaching
its 40th Anniversary, as the first Vital Information
album was released in 1983. Wounded Bird Records is
starting the celebration with the 2022 release of
The Complete Columbia Recordings, a four CD set of
the first four Vital Information albums. From
2016-2019 Steve Smith toured with the iconic rock
band Journey, the group in which he recorded nine
albums with massive hits. In 2017 Smith was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Steve Smith was voted “#1 Fusion Drummer” in
the 2012 Modern Drummer readers poll. Smith has
previously been voted “#1 All-Around Drummer" in the
Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll for five
consecutive years from 1987-1991. The 2008, 2009 and
2010 Drum! Magazine readers poll voted Smith #1 Jazz
Drummer. In 2001 Steve was named by Modern Drummer
Magazine as one of the “Top 25 Drummers of All
Time." In 2002, he was voted into the Modern Drummer
Hall of Fame and in 2003 his Hudson Music DVD Steve
Smith Drumset Technique - History of the U.S. Beat,
was voted #1 Educational DVD.” Hudson Music released
Steve’s DVD/CD Drum Legacy – Standing on the
Shoulders of Giants in 2008, which was voted Best
DVD of 2009 by the readers of Drum! Magazine.
Currently Smith exercises his teaching skills by
giving clinics around the world and being part of
the staff of Drum Fantasy Camp:
www.drumfantasycamp.com
Steve Smith is available for selected
clinics and special guest appearances.
Journey "La Do Da"
Drum Solo
Click
here to contact Janet
Williamson for artist availability and booking
information.
Journey being
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame