Product Details

• Actors: Steve Smith, John Riley
• Directors: Rob Wallis
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hudson Music
• DVD Release Date: June 17, 2008
• Run Time: 300 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00186RS6E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,065 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studying the drum giants who came before is one of the keys to developing an understanding of music and finding your own voice on the drums. This highly educational DVD set presents a musical analysis and discussion of some of the most important jazz drumming greats in history. On Drum Legacy you will find the complete one-hour performance by Steve Smith's group Jazz Legacy from the 2006 Modern Drummer Festival, including two previously unreleased songs.

The group's music is inspired by jazz drumming giants Art Blakey (A Night in Tunisia), Elvin Jones (Three Card Molly), Philly Joe Jones (Two Bass Hit), Buddy Rich (Moments Notice), Joe Dukes (Soulful Drums), and Tony Williams (Sister Cheryl). Each tune is dedicated to one of these drum legends.

Also included are two brilliant drum solos by Steve in tribute to Max Roach (Drums Unlimited and For Big Sid), plus two new original solos. John Riley - master jazz drummer, educator, and author - joins Steve for an insightful discussion of the work of these jazz greats that is unprecedented in its scope and detail. Steve and John present a wealth of information for drummers from a historical/artistic analysis of each jazz giant's conceptual approach, right down to the nuts and bolts of the licks they played.

Bonus features include:

- live performance footage of Steve in NYC and at a master class in Australia

- a 40-page printed booklet

- a complete eBook containing exercises and text from Steve, as well as complete bios from respected author Mark Griffith to round out your understanding of these drum legends. The eBook is in PDF format so it can be printed and used in the practice room with or without the DVD.

Also included in this package is the new Jazz Legacy CD Live on Tour, featuring Steve Smith (drums), Walt Weiskopf (tenor sax), Andy Fusco (alto sax), Mark Soskin (piano) and Baron Browne (bass).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Giant Legacy passed on by a Giant Drum Legend, August 19, 2008

By 

Ramkumar Swaminathan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steve Smith Drum Legacy: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (DVD)

Steve Smith Jazz Legacy DVD Review

Steve Smith has, yet again, given us a wealth of information that will surely send us back to the woodshed for months to come. This double DVD/CD set is a must have for drummers, regardless of their playing level and style of music they are into. If you are a jazz drummer or call yourself a drummer who also plays Jazz, then this DVD is for you, as it analyzes the playing styles of several ground breaking Jazz drummers who have laid down the vocabulary of jazz drumming. If you have analyzed some of these "Giant" drummers yourself, this DVD only reinforces those fundamentals and concepts, along with apt demonstration and application of those concepts by Master Drummer Steve Smith himself. This DVD is also for Jazz musicians, enthusiasts, educators, as well as critics who can get deep insight into the playing styles and analysis of Giant drummers, like Max (Roach), Elvin (Jones), Tony (Williams), Art (Blakey), Philly (Joe Jones) to name a few, all of whom have come up with drumming styles that complement the advancement of the art of Jazz compositions as well as influenced their peer musicians to compose and play differently. Also sitting on the analyst chair is Jazz Drum Guru John Riley, who has authored the Art of Bop drumming, Beyond Bop drumming, and Jazz Drummer's workshop. The performances on this double DVD/CD are stunning, executed with the absolute command and mastery of the instrument. The conversations happening between John and Steve are enlightening in itself. Also shown are clips of some of the Giants playing their signature licks. Steve also goes head to head with himself, trading licks, at the end. You be the Judge! A Giant Drumming Legacy is being passed on to us by a Giant Drumming Legend, Steve Smith!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers the subject well - subtitles would be nice though, January 25, 2009

By 

A C SHIELDS (melbourne , australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steve Smith Drum Legacy: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (DVD)

I also have Steve's 'US Beat' DVD which is similar to this one in that it tries to take a very broad subject and present it without explaining too much or leaving too much out. It must be hard to know how to start on such a broad subject and to know how much to assume the drummer already knows or understands, but Steve manages to do it.
The recommended listening information is great too, because once you get into jazz drumming, you can be spending a lot of money and time to find the recordings! It is a great all round package, but it is not for beginners.

Over time, I realised that although Steve wants to pay tribute to other drummers, he takes the understandable but redundant step of playing their styles (and well known songs) with his band, which is is only going to be partially successful. For me, this is starkly illustrated when he plays the Tony Williams tune. Steve is obviously playing something very close to what Tony plays, but there is no excitement there for me - there is merely technical ability, as if he wanted to compare the sheet music with another player and say 'look how close I got to what Tony did'. The heart, fire and soul of the original players do not seem to be coming through.
Instead, something else is likely to come through - it is like someone doing 'impressions' of someone else. I do not know what that achieves. I think a more successful way of approaching it would be to completely change the arrangement to make it fresh, whic also gives one the challenge of creating same.

He did try to add some extra credibility to this venture by getting John Riley involved (someone who saw many of the original players perform first hand) - this was a shrewd move, however their on camera 'vibe' together is not always positive, perhaps due to the impression (that I have) that John is only there to add comments. John is not permitted to demonstrate things on the drums, which would have added so much more to this.
It is not often that one watches a DVD and feels that the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife.
Steve does a duet with himself on the DVD. It may have been more interesting if he had done one with John.

It is really best to be yourself when it comes to playing, but after watching this I had the the uncomfortable realisation that Steve could have used the great players' achievements to raise his own profile.

There is also the questionable but undoubtedly successful tactic of including Steve's band's CD in the package - this type of music will not sell in large numbers, however including it in the DVD package is a guaranteed way of doing so. I am learning a lot about marketing when I see how Hudson Music present some of their product.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steve Smith Drum Legacy, January 20, 2009

By 

R. J. O. trey (California, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steve Smith Drum Legacy: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (DVD)

This follow up to the Steve's History of the Beat DVD worth every penny, Highly recommended for aspiring big band and/or small group jazz players intersted in a study of standards and the musicians who became legends from playing them. Thanks Steve