About the only thing I knew about Steve Smith, was that he was the drummer for Journey; I knew this because, back in high school, I purchased one of their albums. Now, in 1987, being the jazz snob that I had turned into, I wanted nothing to do with my past musical interests. By this time, I had developed a taste for either that fluid guitar sound of George Benson, or the cutting speed of Al DiMeola; which is probably why, up to this point, I had passed on Steve Smith's prior two releases (Vital Information & Orion), as per their liner notes. I had recently purchased my first CD player in early 1987, and was anxious to purchase those new, shiny, cutting - edge discs, that according to the press, were the wave of the future and would last forever........right. Anyway, the liner notes on the back of the album, Global Beat, peaked my interest, so I threw caution to the wind and and bought the CD. Looking back, this has to be, in my opinion, one of the strongest contemporary jazz releases of the last 20 years. Now I realize, that's a pretty bold statement, but this recording is as close to perfection as you'll find in the genre; Smith's composing is stellar, the core band of Smith, Landers, Coster, Brown and Wilczewski, of all the Vital Information incarnations, is still the most exciting and versatile group that Smith has led. The memory that sticks in my mind, is how truly surprised I was, by this disc - it was absolutely nothing I thought it would be. The music, to this day, blows me away, the same way it did 21 years ago; it's one of those discs, that I can't help but smile when I listen to it. I haven't missed a VI release since, and, as good as most of them have been, Global Beat is the recording by which all of Smith's others have been judged by. Listen to 'Black Eyebrows'.
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