Steve Smith Drumstick DVD CD Promo Package

This package contains the quality playing tools, educational DVD, and music CD by the world-renowned jazz, rock, and world music drummer, Steve Smith. Included are two pairs of Steve Smith signature wood-tip drumsticks, a pair of Steve Smith Birch Tala Wands, and a standard Vic Firth Stick Bag to keep it all together. Also included are the two-DVD set, Steve Smith: Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat and the world fusion CD Vitalization by Steve Smith and Vital Information. Steve Smith has been named one of the top 25 drummers of all-time by Modern Drummer Magazine and in 2003 his DVD, Steve Smith Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat was voted #1 Educational DVD of the year.

Vic Firth Steve Smith Drumstick Promo Package
Features two Vic Firth Steve Smith signature (model SSS) wood tip drumsticks, a pair of Steve Smith Birch Tala Wands and a standard Vic Firth Stick Bag to keep it all together.

Steve's signature sticks are 16" long and feature an elongated tip with long shoulder and short taper to provide the feel of a 5A with the beef of a 5B.

The Tala Wand is Steve's latest creative addition to the Vic Firth line-up. In the version included in this package, birch dowels are wrapped around a foam core to enable drummers to play aggressively with realistic rebound yet quietly. These are excellent rod-type sticks for low-volume rehearsals or gigs. A yellow thin PVC wrap provides a secure, comfortable handle. The Tala Wands were conceived when Steve began playing with drummers from India and needed a way to blend with their sounds and be sensitive to lower volume levels.

Vic Firth's Standard Stick Bag features three internal stick compartments, bungee cords to suspend from a floor tom, an external pocket with Velcro-secured flap, and an external transparent business card sleeve. Constructed from tough cordura nylon.


Steve Smith: Drumset Technique/History of the U.S. Beat (2-DVD Set)
With 2 DVDs and over 4-1/2 hours of footage, the Hudson Music Steve Smith: Drumset Technique and History of the US Beat is a virtual encyclopedia of drum set techniques, styles, and concepts! Drumset Technique (Disc One) - Steve explains hand and foot technique in unprecedented detail and gets to the core of what drummers need to know in order to improve their feel and technical skills. Segments include hand technique, foot technique, the art of practice, exercises, licks and phrases, independence/interdependence, implied metric modulations, plus 4 extended solo drum pieces. History of the U.S. Beat (Disc Two) - With the help of an all-star band, Steve explains the evolution of the drum set in U.S. music - how the drum set was first used in all the major styles and how closely related all the styles are. Segments include early New Orleans jazz, big band, bebop, rhythm and blues, country, blues, gospel, rock, funk, and jazz/rock. In addition, Steve's group Vital Information plays 7 complete tunes that feature applications of the techniques and complex rhythms explained in Disc One.

Special Features: Extensive bonus footage including alternate-take drum solos, a brilliant hi-hat solo and hi-hat tutorial, alternate band performances, a camera-switching option, optional running commentary by Steve, a listening list, a reading list, and more! Total running time (for both discs): 4 hours, 38 minutes.


Steve Smith and Vital Information - Vitalization CD
Hudson Music is proud to announce the release of the latest audio CD from Steve Smith & Vital Information, Vitalization. Vitalization's 12 original compositions (composed by the members of Vital Information) define an emerging, borderless, "World Fusion" musical style that ranges from up-tempo blues, straight-ahead jazz and ballads to South Indian-influenced and odd-time grooves, funk and contemporary jazz-rock. The CD also features guest percussionists Pete Lockett (England), Gilad (Israel) and Juan Carlos Meli¡n (Spain), who add a variety of authentic, ethnic percussion sounds and flavors to the tracks.

Following his extensive tour and studio work with leading jazz, pop and rock musicians-- not to mention his election to the Modern Drummer Hall Of Fame and multiple best all-around drummer awards-- this recording represents a culmination of Smith's influences and his growth as a musician while also demonstrating that the drummers' drummer's craft remains a work in progress and his appetite for taking on new challenges remains insatiable.

Vital Information's Tom Coster (keyboards - Bill Evans, Billy Cobham and Santana), Baron Browne (bass - Gary Burton, Steps Ahead, Jean-Luc Ponty) and newcomer Vinny Valentino (guitar - Randy Brecker, Dennis Chambers, George Benson) join Steve Smith (drummer - Journey, Jazz Legacy, Steps Ahead, Burning For Buddy) for a bold excursion into World Music territory without leaving their American Jazz roots behind.