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Steve Smith, who originally became well-known as the drummer with the rock band Journey, grew up playing jazz. He has led one of the world’s top fusion-oriented groups, Vital Information, for over 40 years now; they recorded their first album in 1983. Today’s version is a trio with keyboardist Manuel Valera and bassist Janek Gwizdala. Smith rarely looks backwards but he was so inspired by Valera’s transformation of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” into an up-temp jazz-rock piece, that he decided to record new versions of several songs from his illustrious past for the new album, “New Perspective.”
In early 2022, the Montreal-based drummer Jacob Wutzke had the opportunity to work closely with legendary bass player Ira Coleman, who famously was a member of Tony Williams’ quintet in the 1980s and ’90s and still had physical copies of Tony’s handwritten charts for most of his compositions. For four months under Ira’s direction, they met to play the music and to discuss the way that Tony ran his group, in the process developing a beautiful rapport and group sound. The finished tribute album, “You Better Bet,” features five of Williams’ compositions along with five of Jacob’s originals.
Also this week, the all-star quintet MTB, featuring Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner, Peter Bernstein, Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart, unveil their second release, “Solid Jackson”; “Thank You, Barry Harris,” from pianist Ehud Asherie and trumpeter Bruce Harris, serves as tribute to the musical genius of pianist and composer Barry Harris; and guitarist and Chicago native Hans Luchs drops his first release as leader since relocating to New York, “The Spell is Broken.”