Customer Reviews

Steve Smith Drum Legacy: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

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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!

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.

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

in this educational dvd steve explains and demonstrate the playing of jazz drumers giants. he also takes it one step beyond and explain how you can orcastrate it on the drums. doing so he had opened my mind and gave me a better understanding of jazz plaing. offcourse, you can adopt alot of the ideas to rock and other styles of music. buy it!

A very well done DVD..
I would have bought this JUST to see/hear Steve play..plus you get his and John's input on on what is going on and how to play most of the fills..
Excellent sound, playing, drum/drummers background and editing..
No doubt a LOT of time went into this video, very glad to have it..

Steve Smith cover some the greatest drummer in the history and give us some inside into his playing.


If you're a fan Tony Williams, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey,etc.. You will have some inside into there playing.

Also, some incredible solos and ideas to work with solos, comp, etc..

A most for every fan of jazz drumming!