In , the band did an extended Morning Dance tour, playing their landmark breakthrough album on its 35th anniversary which was also their 40th anniversary as a band. Now, brings up the long anticipated release of Vinyl Tap , in which they once again challenge themselves with something new, an album of all covers from the classic rock era.
In , as Spyro Gyra celebrated its twentieth album release in twenty years, Jazziz writer Jonathan Wildran wrote the following history for the occasion. Although, much has happened in the intervening years, this piece remains a good source for the answers to questions about the Spyro Gyra story. Bandleader and saxman Jay Beckenstein can look back and remember a time when he and keyboardist Jeremy Wall were just jamming for fun.
He can marvel at the unexpected resulting success just as we all can, but rest on his laurels? Not even close. Whatever Jay had inside him, whatever sort of influences led him to this smooth mixture of styles, it came out as an original voice. I bought their first record, danced around my bedroom, picked up the sax, played along and never looked back! Beckenstein hears tributes like that, shakes his head and happily realizes that despite the long history, there is no clear end in sight to the magic that is Spyro Gyra.
He had met Wall a few years earlier, and, later, back in the States, the two spent summers in college playing outdoor concerts together. Though Wall was out in California studying music at Cal Arts and Beckenstein was experimenting with avant-garde and classical sax, piano and clarinet at the State U of New York in Buffalo, the two knew they would eventually join forces.
We did simple music and esoteric stuff. It all came together, this oddball mix, until we found a middle ground, our own groove. The overall vibe of the band evolved into a more focused ideal when then teenager Tom Schuman joined the band as second keyboardist Wall left the live band in , but has been assistant producer and written tracks for every album since.
During the day, he turned his attention to the production end of things, and partnered up to do production with Richard Calandra of the local band The Posse. Then the band put together a commercial for a local TV station and started selling more and more. The Caribbean sound came with the help of vibes and marimba master Dave Samuels, a New York city musician who was playing in town in a local club date. But Spyro stuck it out and soon caught the attention of Lenny Silver, who owned a local record store chain as well as Amherst Records.
He offered them a distribution deal, and the first album went on to sell 70, units. Boney James started dancing along with the other million or so people who eventually bought the album. Radio was open-minded at the time, but we never could have imagined that success.
Best of all, there were so many other textures on that album, listeners knew we were far from one dimensional. They connect with it now as they did then, looking back on a special evening or event. The music was always played at a high level, for sophisticated folks, and I think everyone always got the feeling they were seeing a tight, well-rehearsed ensemble who really cared.
Like, wow, what you guys did was so much more intriguing than some of the stuff they hear today. Mid- to up-tempo concoctions like "Silk and Satin" and "Havana Moonlight" make for some very pleasant listening, and the addition of old bandmate Dave Samuels ' vibes on "Breezeway" and "Sierra" brings back the sound that attracted the group's audience in the first place.
However, "Springtime Laughter," while a well-performed vocal by Basia, would have been a catchy contemporary jazz piece without the silly lyrics. And why is it necessary to have tacked-on background vocalists repeating a song's title as on "Love Comes" and the title track? Still, Spyro Gyra 's music has more depth and kick than most of their brothers and sisters in the smooth or contemporary genre. Jay Beckenstein once again delivers some fine saxophone playing, Tom Schuman lays down nice keyboard textures, and guitarist Julio Fernandez enlivens several pieces with his tasty fretwork and Benson-like scatting on "Sierra".
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