Steve Smith - Jean Luc Ponty - Gardens of Babylon (1976)

“Gardens of Babylon” by Jean Luc Ponty is from an October 1976 concert on the PBS TV show Soundstage. I had passed an audition in NYC to play drums for Jean-Luc Ponty, left the Berklee College of Music in my 7th semester and went on tour with the group about one week later. This was our second gig! I was just 22-years-old and felt quite intimidated. I talk about how it all happened in the podcast The Playful Musician: I combined my two Gretsch jazz kits to make the kit in this video. A few months later, in January 1977, I bought my first SONOR DRUMS. Jean-Luc wanted me to play a big double-bass “Billy Cobham style” drumset in his band. I had been checking out Sonor drums and found a large kit which consisted of two 24” bass drums, three rack toms and two floor toms; it took a while to adjust to such a large kit but I adapted quickly. I’ve been playing Sonor drums ever since. - Steve Smith