Hello Mr Bailey. Victor's gig in Rybnik, Poland (1999) was the first jazz gig I ever went to. Made me completely fall in love with this genre. "Low Blow" is one of my all-time favorite jazz albums. His passing hit me really hard, same level as with Bowie few months earlier. All the best, sir.
I absolutely love this version of Steps!! A time capsule of master musicians displaying their musical prowess and NOT let it get in the way of the music. Rest In Power Michael, Victor and Chuck. ❤️🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽
Victor Bailey & Peter Erskine, what a great groove. Don't care what anyone says, I love 1980s Fusion too, 'warts and all', i.e DX7, Roland Synth Guitars, etc...
This is exactly how i like jazz fusion. Synth-uped guitar, vibraphone, groovin bass, meandering sax, all perfectly blended together by master musicians. 80s jackets and palm trees in the background just add to the experience.
@@Frapzoid I think it's a matter of using electric instruments, which are more associated with pop, and using rock sounding rhythms. It can also be more groovy baselines borrowed from rnb. I'm no expert on the matter, but that's what i understand fusion to be.
From back in the day where you could go shopping, move the lawn and wash the car and the vibraphone player would still be playing solo when you came back..
Peter Erskine showing why he is one of the all time greats. He was also previously with Weather Report too. I had his educational vid Everything is Timekeeping when I was growing up. I am sure most drummers go through a phase when they want to add in everything in their Arsenal but then you have someone telling you forget that this is what is important and it’s time. He was right. Rarely do drummers get callbacks for their chops.
I miss that 70- 80's fusion sound. We drove from Miami in the 80's to see them play in NYC small club called 7th Avenue South. We met Steve Gadd in the alley. Super performance !!!
Occasionally I would check Chuck's videos and cds and the funny thing was that I would always find him great, as in this video. When called upon to name a list of best guitar players I would consistently fail to name Chuck. What a disgrace! He is (was), undoubtedly, one of the best! R.I.P.
It''s amazing ! I Knew Michael Brecker in 1988 here in Brazil - at Free Jazz Festival - São Paulo. I never more forgot, your music transformed my life. After Mrs. Mike Mainieri, Erskine, Grolnick, Bailey, and much others. Thank you !!!!!!
@@musopaul5407 These debates about comparisons of musicians, this one is better than that one, etc., is totally out of line! Music is not a competition, we are not at the Olympics. By the way, Mike Stern also seems to think little about clothes, he always wears black jeans and a black T-shirt for decades 😂 But who cares about that anyway? Mike is great, but I recommend checking out some of the exciting young guns.
@@musopaul5407 What's wrong with a vanilla player? Are Ritenour or Carlton not as high on your list because they have a different musical approach? There are quite a few songs from Chuck's albums that move me emotionally, and plenty they don't. And that goes for Mike's songs too, while we're on the subject of comparing. By the way, the term competition only applies to professional musicians, and only to a limited extent, because good music and art doesn't really live on competition in the economic sense. For the listener it is not about competition at all. Over the many years I've come a long way from judging or even condemning musicians by their chops (for lack of such). It is only and exclusively about emotions. And those are completely subjective and not discussable. I also find that music does not have to be constantly evaluated and pigeonholed, you can also just let it be. A good player is one who manages to touch people, regardless of genres, chops and virtuosity in general, period! Virtuosity (whatever that means exactly) can be exciting for a short time and then incredibly boring for a long time. I like that you mention things like tasty harmonic pallet and good sound and respect that you were not particularly taken in by Chuck's playing. For me that's true for Stern's play, meanwhile he's just copying himself and I'd like to see him evolve and become more modern. There are so many incredibly good new streams, fusion in the best sense. A good player for me is one who can pour his personality into new forms of expression, taking me along on this journey and not getting stuck in his old habits. But that's just how my brain works, it wants to be offered something different every now and then in order not to get bored and to be inspired. One day chili, the other vanilla. 😬
great live recording! i've really enjoyed this and maybe it's time i start digitalizing my own private recordings so i can share them on here. there must be years of video tapes with live recordings still in the vault.
Victor Baily was on fire .. and checkout the musicianship, that little smile from the drummer for the licks Victor slipped @ around 7:56 ..really good stuff
Bless this sound engineer that got heavy w bass, thus laying clear to the world the true genius that is Victor Bailey. Pick it up about 2:50 and just listen for a minute or two. Bailey and Erskine seem to be having so much fun effortlessly creating the mother of all pockets for Loeb to solo over.
Totally agree. Even behind @6:25 Mike's solo you can hear how locked in they are (and again at @10:25). Listen to all of that space Victor is leaving. It's like he trading fills with Peter at just the right times. I'm not a drummer but even I can hear that ride cymbal and the hi hat in the "space"...just awesome! I'm just "feeling" the 16ths the way these guys play it!
It's actually quite poor quality mix IMO. Still it's fascinating to listen to this music, these guys are true geniuses. I'm glad that I stumbled upon this video in YT thanks for posting it.
Chuck Loeb was a unsung monster on guitar. This is great edition of this amazing band. I heard them with Eddie Gomez and I believe Warren Bernhardt. No Loeb.
This is amazing! Each a star for himself - together they open up a new horizon - still today! Did anyone notice, that they had already a midified Vibraphon in 1986?
I had one of those Schecter walnut strat guitars Tom anderson made them with all the brass on it from the 80s just like that they are heavy!! I understand having it on a stand They are worth allot of money thes days
how cool, it reminded me of 'an' meeting with an associate from a company I used to work with, but.. It is you Dennis. We talked at Namm once and you shared your experiences with these guys. How great!
Dennis. This is great. By any chance do you have the full line up from the Long Beach Jazzfestival in 1986. I was there and this clip brought back so many great memories. Thanks for sharing.
This is from a VHS tape that we got day of show as a sample from the remote truck, so it is rough mixes/video editing that was done during the live recording. I was mixing monitors for the band that day. I recall there were a few songs on the tape. I will check about the other songs.
Its from him Using a Roland Gr-700 guitar synth with the G-707 controller guitar. Great piece of kit. The Synth itself is based of the Roland JX-3P analogue synthesizer. A friend of mine use one here to great effect its how I came to know of it: th-cam.com/video/iu0umHoJ8OI/w-d-xo.html
i stumbled across this. vic was my brother. good to se. thankx for the memorys. RIP.
Miss Victor, Mike and Chuck - nice to hear from you.
Hello Mr Bailey. Victor's gig in Rybnik, Poland (1999) was the first jazz gig I ever went to. Made me completely fall in love with this genre. "Low Blow" is one of my all-time favorite jazz albums. His passing hit me really hard, same level as with Bowie few months earlier. All the best, sir.
What a legend. His groove on this tune is just so ridiculously deep. So glad I saw this. RIP Victor....
Μy condolences....
Victor is absolutely crushing it here. Your brother was a true master of his craft.
I absolutely love this version of Steps!! A time capsule of master musicians displaying their musical prowess and NOT let it get in the way of the music. Rest In Power Michael, Victor and Chuck. ❤️🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽
Victor Bailey & Peter Erskine, what a great groove. Don't care what anyone says, I love 1980s Fusion too, 'warts and all', i.e DX7, Roland Synth Guitars, etc...
Even the Manieri mullet?
Dx7 is literally the reason fusion rules
Chuck Loeb. Love his music and of course Michael’s too
I had a DX7. Wish I still had it.
This is exactly how i like jazz fusion. Synth-uped guitar, vibraphone, groovin bass, meandering sax, all perfectly blended together by master musicians. 80s jackets and palm trees in the background just add to the experience.
Why is this Jazz fusion and not just modern Jazz? What genre are they fusing together with Jazz?
@@Frapzoid I think it's a matter of using electric instruments, which are more associated with pop, and using rock sounding rhythms. It can also be more groovy baselines borrowed from rnb. I'm no expert on the matter, but that's what i understand fusion to be.
Exactly
Thanks for sharing this precious time document. I find it important to save these for future generations.
From back in the day where you could go shopping, move the lawn and wash the car and the vibraphone player would still be playing solo when you came back..
Peter Erskine showing why he is one of the all time greats. He was also previously with Weather Report too. I had his educational vid Everything is Timekeeping when I was growing up. I am sure most drummers go through a phase when they want to add in everything in their Arsenal but then you have someone telling you forget that this is what is important and it’s time. He was right. Rarely do drummers get callbacks for their chops.
Thanks, totally agree. Love his groove and feel. ❤
Lol
@@funklover24yep steve smith doesnt have the feel at least on pools
Most bespectacled 80's fusion band
Best performance I've ever seen using that beast, Roland GR 707.....kudos to Chuck Loeb! R.I.P.
Bravo, Victor Bailey! What a monster he was!
I will always love hearing this type of jazz music! 😃
Jazz Fusion at its best level - wonderful execution and location
One of the great bands of it's time. The musicians are all giants to say the least. Thanks so much for posting.
Agree 100% !
I miss that 70- 80's fusion sound. We drove from Miami in the 80's to see them play in NYC small club called 7th Avenue South. We met Steve Gadd in the alley. Super performance !!!
Occasionally I would check Chuck's videos and cds and the funny thing was that I would always find him great, as in this video. When called upon to name a list of best guitar players I would consistently fail to name Chuck. What a disgrace! He is (was), undoubtedly, one of the best! R.I.P.
It''s amazing ! I Knew Michael Brecker in 1988 here in Brazil - at Free Jazz Festival - São Paulo. I never more forgot, your music transformed my life. After Mrs. Mike Mainieri, Erskine, Grolnick, Bailey, and much others. Thank you !!!!!!
What an amazing bassplayer!!!
The late great victor bailey
Three of these great musicians are already gone....Unbelievable ! R.I.P. Michael, Victor and Chuck ( in order of passing away ).
It's a sad world without them.
Musopaul what? well if u are judging musicians by their clothes you should check some pop artists instead of jazz musicians, wtf?
@@musopaul5407 you're an asshole..
@@musopaul5407 These debates about comparisons of musicians, this one is better than that one, etc., is totally out of line! Music is not a competition, we are not at the Olympics.
By the way, Mike Stern also seems to think little about clothes, he always wears black jeans and a black T-shirt for decades 😂 But who cares about that anyway? Mike is great, but I recommend checking out some of the exciting young guns.
@@musopaul5407 What's wrong with a vanilla player? Are Ritenour or Carlton not as high on your list because they have a different musical approach? There are quite a few songs from Chuck's albums that move me emotionally, and plenty they don't. And that goes for Mike's songs too, while we're on the subject of comparing. By the way, the term competition only applies to professional musicians, and only to a limited extent, because good music and art doesn't really live on competition in the economic sense. For the listener it is not about competition at all.
Over the many years I've come a long way from judging or even condemning musicians by their chops (for lack of such). It is only and exclusively about emotions. And those are completely subjective and not discussable. I also find that music does not have to be constantly evaluated and pigeonholed, you can also just let it be.
A good player is one who manages to touch people, regardless of genres, chops and virtuosity in general, period! Virtuosity (whatever that means exactly) can be exciting for a short time and then incredibly boring for a long time.
I like that you mention things like tasty harmonic pallet and good sound and respect that you were not particularly taken in by Chuck's playing. For me that's true for Stern's play, meanwhile he's just copying himself and I'd like to see him evolve and become more modern. There are so many incredibly good new streams, fusion in the best sense. A good player for me is one who can pour his personality into new forms of expression, taking me along on this journey and not getting stuck in his old habits. But that's just how my brain works, it wants to be offered something different every now and then in order not to get bored and to be inspired. One day chili, the other vanilla. 😬
Nice catch by the guitarist at 7:25 LOL
Wonderful as always. Mike is a beautiful, welcoming musical spirit. His rhythmic control and release is superb.
Thanks for the upload! This should-a been on network television back in 1986. And now with all the channels available
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!! So good..
great live recording!
i've really enjoyed this and maybe it's time i start digitalizing my own private recordings so i can share them on here.
there must be years of video tapes with live recordings still in the vault.
YEs please
Do it!
Do it and please visit this and let us know! ❤️
YES! please
Incredible recording. The sound is incredible 👌🏿
Amazing! One of earth’s best moments! ❤️🍻🎼🎶
Probably the best rendition of Pools I've ever heard! Thank you for posting Dennis. You made my night!
Your right man but not prob ....is!!!!
They will live forever !
Thanks for this posting. Group of giant musicians.
good times, lots of good memories
What a lucky find this is!!!! 👌🏿
RIP Victor Bailey, Michael Brecker and my friend Chuck Loeb 👊🏿🖤
Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤🤍
I have known all these individuals for years but I never knew this band till today😀... So now I'm searching here and how I missed them I have no idea
Oh man. One of my favourite modern bands in 1984, even before.
Victor Baily was on fire .. and checkout the musicianship, that little smile from the drummer for the licks Victor slipped @ around 7:56 ..really good stuff
This is just beautiful.. So nice to sip some high test beer listening to this before hitting the sack..❤️
Excellent version with Victor Bailey on electric bass!!
Absolutely Beautiful Sounds.
Thank you Dennis for posting this amazing moment in musical time!
No sweat with Steps Ahead...totally fluid jazz.
Just Sublime
Old school is old school.
The musicianship of the 5 Steps Ahead members are categorised as headmasters.
Rip Victor, Chuck & Mr.Brecker.
… Emilio Estefan on xylophones and Bun E. Carlos on drums. Wow!!!
Pocket...
Terrific performance,with Víctor Bayley playing absolutely off the scale!
Bless this sound engineer that got heavy w bass, thus laying clear to the world the true genius that is Victor Bailey. Pick it up about 2:50 and just listen for a minute or two. Bailey and Erskine seem to be having so much fun effortlessly creating the mother of all pockets for Loeb to solo over.
Totally agree. Even behind @6:25 Mike's solo you can hear how locked in they are (and again at @10:25). Listen to all of that space Victor is leaving. It's like he trading fills with Peter at just the right times. I'm not a drummer but even I can hear that ride cymbal and the hi hat in the "space"...just awesome! I'm just "feeling" the 16ths the way these guys play it!
Absolutely! I think Steve Smith is a great drummer but he hasn't been able to make justice to this tune.
It's actually quite poor quality mix IMO. Still it's fascinating to listen to this music, these guys are true geniuses. I'm glad that I stumbled upon this video in YT thanks for posting it.
This is good group
Jazz is good
Good vibes 😎
Dennis, thanks for posting this GEM! I agree with Meeman, this is very good! Brecker at his best = late 70's through early 90's.
GEAT MUSICIANS ! thank you !
What a fantastic show! Incredible, each and every one of them so at the point, unbelieveble. Love it. Thx so much for sharing!
Only Peter and Mike left... The others are already jammin in the sky.
R.I.P. Chuck, Victor and Michael, thanks for the Music ...
rip ...great musicians .
thanks for upload
Chuck Loeb was a unsung monster on guitar. This is great edition of this amazing band. I heard them with Eddie Gomez and I believe Warren Bernhardt. No Loeb.
From that era, Chuck Loeb hardly gets mentioned but appeared everywhere. Like an unsung hero.
I Saw them in Perugia and Was really great
11:15 “Chicago, Chicago that toddlin’ town” - Brecker was always full of surprises 💙
WOW first time I heard steps ahead was on WJZZ..in Detroit I love this group..and I still listen to this type of fusion to this day.
Man! That tempo didn’t move one little bit for 16 minutes!
That’s Bun E. Carlos on drums keeping the tempo steady as a rock. 🥸
Wonderful performance!
Michael sounds like 3 tenors at once. What a muscian .
Brilliant.
GOD Bless You 🎸🎸🎸
This is amazing! Each a star for himself - together they open up a new horizon - still today! Did anyone notice, that they had already a midified Vibraphon in 1986?
Some people just can’t appreciate this.
CAN
NOT
STOP
LISTENING
TO
THIS
Thanks for posting Dennis - very thoughtful!
Totally Awesome 🎷🎶🥁🎸🎹🎧🎙️
They were such a great group.
Unforgettable seasons ❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏
Bailey and Erskine so in the damn pocket.
Great Band very Nice 👌👌❤
Vic Bailey and Peter Erskine holding it down!
Victor Bailey en estado de locura y todas al ángulo total
Brutal…
Nice to see Mike Maniari still wearing his high school letter jacket!
I do believe that's from Billy Joel's '52nd Street' album sessions.
Thanks so much for posting.
I had one of those Schecter walnut strat guitars Tom anderson made them with all the brass on it from the 80s just like that they are heavy!! I understand having it on a stand They are worth allot of money thes days
Only Mike M. and Peter are still left with us.
how cool, it reminded me of 'an' meeting with an associate from a company I used to work with, but.. It is you Dennis. We talked at Namm once and you shared your experiences with these guys. How great!
Hi Paul - nice to hear from you - yes, I remember our talk at NAMM.
sooooo good
Very Weather plus the vibes. Classy!
Delightful - for me for sure.
8:18: Victor Bailey honoring Jaco...respect!
that synth guitar is truly "STEPS AHEAD".......... of it's time. well played indeed.
Great band ❤👍🇨🇭
Fantastico!
The Right Stuff on stage !
They brightened my youth.. Mike Mainieri: Wanderlust.. also Eliane Elias..
Peter and Victor were locked!! Michael Brecker is beyond the greatest!
holy shit this is gold through and through
Super hip playing! Thanks for the upload :)
Queen Mary Jazz Festival 1985. David Becker played there solo after Steps and before Chick Corea Trio and Miles Davis.
Victor Bailey - he was excellent!!!
Can't believe the camera left Mike Manieri in the middle of that amazing solo! :(
Master 'pinky grip' Mainieri and friends! The real deal!! 😍
Wow, this is magic. Wonderful musicianship, fusion heaven.
Miss Chuck Loeb, Michael Brecker and Victor Bailey, may they rest in peace. ❤
Dennis. This is great. By any chance do you have the full line up from the Long Beach Jazzfestival in 1986. I was there and this clip brought back so many great memories. Thanks for sharing.
This is from a VHS tape that we got day of show as a sample from the remote truck, so it is rough mixes/video editing that was done during the live recording. I was mixing monitors for the band that day. I recall there were a few songs on the tape. I will check about the other songs.
@@dalichwer thx Dennis. That would be great.
4:24 Does it sound like he's playing microtones to anyone else? Sounds insane!
It’s just insane!! Wow!!!
@@cmikesmith664 Seems Mr. Erskine was impressed as well.
Its from him Using a Roland Gr-700 guitar synth with the G-707 controller guitar. Great piece of kit. The Synth itself is based of the Roland JX-3P analogue synthesizer. A friend of mine use one here to great effect its how I came to know of it: th-cam.com/video/iu0umHoJ8OI/w-d-xo.html
But is the guitarrist Chuck Loeb? I attended a concert with him in Budapest back in 2000 or so.
Available, the music is still excluded from the mainstream.
Catalina Wine Mixer Rock...I love this stuff
Play at 0.75x for instant Vaporwave. You're welcome.
Looks like Long Beach.
WOW... What was THAT!
Beautiful Schecter Dream Machine the guitarist is playing.