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Vital Tech Tones: Vital Tech Tones - Vol. 2

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Tone Center
Released: 2000.05.23
Time:
 56:27
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.vitalinformation.com
Appears with: Victor Wooten
Purchase date: 2001.11.09
Price in €: 18,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] VTT(V.Wooten) - 1:33
[2] Subzero(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 7:06
[3] The Litigants(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 7:07
[4] Puhtainin' Thu...(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 5:17
[5] Drums Stop, No Good(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 3:11
[6] Catch Me If U Can(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 4:24
[7] Nairobe Express(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 4:10
[8] Who Knew?(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 7:13
[9] Time Tunnel(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 4:41
[10] Chakmool-Ti(S.Henderson/S.Smith/V.Wooten) - 11:45

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


SCOTT HENDERSON - Guitar, Producer
STEVE SMITH - Drums, Producer
VICTOR LEMOTE WOOTEN - Bass, Vocals, Producer

CHAD ALLEN - Engineer
DAVID BENNETT - Management
MARC GORDON - Engineer
T.J. HELMERICH - Engineer, Mixing
BILL MILKOWSKI - Liner Notes
BRIAN MACDONALD - Engineer
SCOTT HULL - Mastering
MATT FISHER - Engineer
ABEL ACOSTA - Engineer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2000 CD Tone Center 4008



Adapted from the VTT2 liner notes:

It's time to reclaim the f-word. Enough with this stigma about fusion. That once vital genre - pioneered in the late '60s by visionaries with raw passion and a pent-up desire for stretching - got scuttled somewhere around the late '70s by slick, over-rehearsed clones who co-opted the tag and promptly de-fanged the music in some lame-o attempt at making nice-nice with radio. While they still called it fusion, these purveyors of puerile pap had more in common with the Archies and Andy Gibb than "The Inner Mounting Flame" and "Emergency!" They watered it down, squeezed the life out of it, putting a friendlier, happy-face spin on it until...voila! ...ten years down the road you get "smooth jazz."

Fast forward to 2000: A kind of fusion renaissance is in full effect and has been steadily brewing for years. The signs are everywhere. Reissues of the Mahavishnu Orchestra are selling at a startling pace. No less than five recording projects have recently surfaced in which bands pay tribute to Miles Davis's highly provocative electric period of the early '70s. An online fusion magazine (www.fusemag.com) has emerged with a full-blown member base. Meanwhile, a whole host of renegades is going against the grain with their own brand of vital, aggressively virtuosic fusion music. It's a two-pronged attack:

On the one hand, there are the 40-something musicians who came up with the likes of Tony Williams Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return To Forever. Out of sheer frustration - and not a small dose of nostalgia - they are returning to their roots and blowing with abandon once again. Count RTF's Lenny White and Stanley Clarke in that number. Last year they formed the powerful fusion band Vertu as just such a stretching vehicle.

On the other hand, there is a growing legion of accomplished 20-something players who are just now discovering the high energy joys of fusion's golden era and are forming bands to pick up on what those pioneers were putting down 30 years ago. What comes around goes around, indeed.

The message to musicians is clear: it's safe to play again. We, the audience, can handle whatever you throw at us. So don't pander with sonic pablum anymore. No need to browbeat us with obvious, blatantly-stated 4/4 backbeats. Go ahead, imply time. Mix up the meter a bit. And above all, don't repeat that nifty melodic nugget again and again and again...as if teaching a child "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

Follow instead the lead of Vital Tech Tones, a band of three virtuosos who put a premium on pushing the envelope and challenging listeners in the process. They threw down the gauntlet in 1998 with their self-titled debut, establishing that initial chemistry while boldly stating their intentions: "We came to play." They explode out of the box on this kinetic follow-up for Tone Center - the fusion label started up by metal maven Mike Varney - taking it up a notch in terms of energy, interplay and open-ended stretching.

"The thing we really focus on in this band is the virtuosity," says ringleader Steve Smith, the versatile drummer who broke in with Jean-Luc Ponty in the '70s before joining rock supergroup Journey and later founding Vital Information. "That's something we bring to the forefront for ourselves and we use that to coax each other, to push each other to those heights. With Vital Information I'm not so concerned with virtuostic playing. We have more of an overall sound that we're putting across so we're focusing more on the vibe of the tunes. We have solos but virtuosity is not an over-riding concern. It is with this band."

Like the process for the first album, most of the tunes on this follow-up started with some drum ideas that Smith had worked up and presented to bassist Victor Wooten, who would then develop a groove. After establishing a rhythmic foundation, guitarist Scott Henderson would embellish with harmonic and melodic ideas. "Each tune took a day from conception to completion," Smith explains, "so it was a process of composing-rehearsal- performance that happened all in one day.

"It's a real natural chemistry," Smith adds. "We have a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, a lot of respect for each other. When we get into the process, we'll have disagreements, but everybody's good about it. We'll work it through until the music presents itself. Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to get everybody's ideas heard, but it's usually pretty obvious which ideas are going to work."

"The main thing that I hear on both of these Vital Tech Tones records," says Wooten, "is that the three of us actually have a sound. When you put them on, it really sounds like a band. There's a definite chemistry there and it seems to have gone on to another level on this record. I think we were much more comfortable with each other, we knew more about what to expect."

Bill Milkowski



Talk about a power trio! Emphasizing the ROCK half of jazz-rock fusion, Vital Tech Tones brings together three monster players of the genre, blends their creative juices and virtuosic abilities, and creates a truly vital sound that reinvigorates and re-establishes fusion as a viable part of the musical landscape. Most of the songs on this recording started with drummer Steve Smith giving his rhythmic ideas to bassist-extraordinaire Victor Wooten, who developed a groove over which guitarist Scott Henderson worked melodies and harmonies. Such a simple, straight-forward, jam-oriented process is risky, but these three have the goods to pull it off, in the process creating a fresh electric music unique for its time. Although VTT has been a studio-only side project for these three, they interact here as though they've been on the road together for several years. It's loud, it's raw, and it's awesome — just what aging baby boomers need to cure their smooth jazz blues, just what generation X-ers need to take them away from the tedious sameness of the alt-rock world.

Jim Newsom - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Complex, robust, full-bodied. Like a bold cabernet, the jazz-rock fusion that flows from the three lads in Vital Tech Tones is best appreciated by those with mature tastes and inquisitive natures. After an initial jolt to the senses, it gradually reveals subtle satisfactions that become more apparent after repeated samplings, persuading you over time that you have unearthed something deeply enjoyable. Fusion fans fond of music with a freestyle rock sensibility should be drawn to this inviting, hard-edged excursion into territory once explored by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Guitarist Scott Henderson (of Tribal Tech) sends showers of expressive, nonlinear chords raining down on the detailed rhythmic underpinnings supplied by drummer Steve Smith (of Vital Information and, long ago, Journey) and bassist Victor Wooten (of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones). The results (all instrumental) are challenging, engrossing, a bit raw, not fully melodic, yet never so abstract that they become alienating. Without showboating, Henderson tinkers with textures that at times bring to mind Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, and a young Al Di Meola, all in an ever-shifting context that encourages sustained listening. Worthwhile.

Terry Wood - Amazon.com



Ever find yourself wandering the record store or surfing the cyber coffers for jazz fusion with edge, with virtuosity, and vitality? Yeah, there's enuff dross out there playing at being fusion but is infected with smooth jazz fuzak virus. You know the stuff, a waste of $18 or $19 bucks, better as a coaster than for listening to for any length of time.

Well look no further, fusion fans, VTT2 delivers all the funky, bluesy, rocking out, high-energy, jazz fusion you need. It seems Steve Smith, Scott Henderson, and Victor Wooten must have sold enough discs with "VTT1" to do it again. I'm glad they came back full-force too versus tossing out some limp echo of their initially effective fusion attack.

And so what of this offering you ask? If you wanted Henderson to keep on being the fusion "Wildman" then he fills the bill. That guy is outta control! He punishes his "Ma" with that axe, riding the whammy bar 90% of the time, overdriven, oh so blue, and ever loose in interpretation but tight on every time sig and unison line turn. Wooten's bass work rivals the immortal Stanley Clarke at times and goes a few steps ahead. "Slap dat thing Vic!" Hmmm good! Now Mr. Smith is a drummin' dynamo everywhere and responds/feels/moves/drives/fills everywhere perfectly.

The spirit of the ETERNAL JAM reigns throughout on this disk with nary a pre-packaged moment. Everybody feels at home with anything his band mate chooses to do and makes it work. One thing I admire about Henderson is when other fusion/bluesy rockers find a cool note run or bend they may hit it two or three times to say, "Listen to that . . ." but "Wildman" Henderson may bang on that sucker like a manic obsessive, woodpecker, milking it, squeezing it, stopping-time, trance-riffin' and all the time Wooten and Smith just groove on. It is this very type of fusion freedom that adds suspense and evokes true soul-fire in the passing eternity of the moment. This is what is phat about VTT2. Did I mention the signature Hendersonic abuse of a Wah-Wah pedal? Thank you, Scott.

Ten trax of cool, fast, slow, meandering, racing, dreamy, screamin' jams await you fusaholics again. Methinks Tone Center's label has become a torch for fusion that all other record labels may see "the light beyond", (see related review). Highest recommendations, once again, for the VTT dudes.

John W. Patterson



Talk about a power trio! Emphasizing the ROCK half of jazz-rock fusion, Vital Tech Tones brings together three monster players of the genre, blends their creative juices and virtuosic abilities, and creates a truly vital sound that reinvigorates and re-establishes fusion as a viable part of the musical landscape. Most of the songs on this recording started with drummer Steve Smith giving his rhythmic ideas to bassist-extraordinaire Victor Wooten, who developed a groove over which guitarist Scott Henderson worked melodies and harmonies. Such a simple, straight-forward, jam-oriented process is risky, but these three have the goods to pull it off, in the process creating a fresh electric music unique for its time.

Although VTT has been a studio-only side project for these three, they interact here as though they've been on the road together for several years. It's loud, it's raw, and it's awesome - just what aging baby boomers need to cure their smooth jazz blues, just what generation Xers need to take them away from the tedious sameness of the alt-rock world.
 

 L y r i c s


Instrumental!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!