Steve Smith, shiny headed drummer extraordinaire has done it again! Standing on the Shoulder’s of Giant’s is Steve’s tribute to all the greats that came before him (and he does them justice.) Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy was originally Buddy’s Buddies, a tribute band to the work of Buddy Rich. As they went on, they started expanding to the work of other jazz drumming greats. Eventually the name was changed to Jazz Legacy because they had left the realm of a Buddy Rich tribute band and became something more.

This video contains the entire 2006 Modern Drummer Festival performance of Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy and after each song there is a long discussion about it between John Riley and Steve Smith. John Riley’s presence does help make the DVD much better and I’ll explain how. If you remember my review of Steve Smith’s Drum Set Technique & History of the U.S. Beat, my one criticism was that Steve Smith was very stiff when he was talking to the camera. Well, because John Riley is there, Steve has an actual person to talk to. The effect being, Steve is much more personable and easier to watch. But Riley is more then just someone for Steve to bounce conversation off of. He is a Jazz scholar in his own right and adds much insight and a different perspective to Steve when they discuss the performances and the artists to which the performances are tributes. Read the rest of this entry →