ASAD #7 Sting | Live In Houston '96
My favorite rhythm section in this period of Sting's touring band.
It’s kind of crazy to me that they weren’t playing Seven Days and Shape of My heart on this concert, as this is three years after the release of Ten Sumners Tales. I wore out a VHS copy of that tour, and hearing this concert brings back many amazing memories of being pressed up to the tiny TV we had at home in the 90’s, and constantly rewinding the tape to see the insane energy that Vinnie Colaiuta injected into the show.
This was where I started to get an appreciation for the role of the bass player, and started to dream about what it must be like to play with drummers on the level of Vinnie. I was actually scheduled for a record date in LA with Vinnie March 23rd 2020. We all know how that year turned out…
So even though, as of the posting of this blog, I’ve never gotten to play with Vinnie, I have been fortunate enough to play with many of his peers, and definitely with drummers that give me the same feeling and energy I was able to experience some 30 years ago from that VHS.
The band on this is Vinnie Colaiuta - Drums, Dominic Miller - Guitar, Kenny Kirkland - Keyboards, Clark Gayton - Trombone, and Butch Thomas - Sax.
The combination of Vinnie, Kenny, and Sting in the rhythm section made this by far my favorite Sting band of the 90’s. Even though the Bring On The Night band with Omar Hakim and Darryl Jones was legendary, the fact that this band toured and recorded so much more together really gave it something special to me.
Enjoy,
Janek