As the nephew of Hammond B3 Legend Jimmy Smith, Tommy Campbell was born into a musical family and was "surrounded by music and drummers since (he) was two years old." He worked with Dizzy Gillespie over a span of almost two decades, and also the same with Sonny Rollins. Tommy recorded and toured extensively with John McLaughlin and came up though the musicianship ranks with lifelong friend and mentor Kevin Eubanks. Campbells "Vocal~Eyes" is a concept he developed while playing with the Manhattan Transfer and living in New York City. Tommy concentrated on blending the straight up groove of Jazz with vocal melodies and syncopated lyrics and arrangements that pull from BeBop through Ethnic Music, Hip-Hop, and other wide varieties of music. The "Vocal~Eyes" band is pushing new boundaries in vocal/instrumental blending that satisfies the hunger of traditional jazz aficionados, while paving the way for a new, young generation of jazz heads. My goal with this project is to reacquaint all vocalists with the reasons why they became vocalists. After all, the voice and the drum are the first instruments!"