| Founded in
1974 by altoist Jay Beckenstein, Spyro Gyra has consistently
been one of the commercially successfully pop-jazz groups of
the past 20 years. Although originally a studio group, the band
became a full-time venture in 1979 and has been touring ever
since.
Critics love to attack this
band's lightweight and rarely changing music, which combines
R&B and elements of pop and Caribbean music with jazz, but its
live performances are often stimulating — unlike many of its
records, which emphasize the danceable melodies at the expense
of improvising.
The roots of Spyro Gyra lay in
Buffalo, New York in the early '70s. Beckenstein and his longtime
friend, keyboardist Jeremy Wall, had been leading a group with
a revolving membership; every one of the many members in the
band were loosely involved in the local jazz and rock scenes.
Around 1974, the group was
beginning to gel and cultivate a following. A club owner who
wanted to advertise an upcoming appearance by the band asked
Beckenstein for the group's name.
The saxophonist told him "Spirogira,"
a word he learned in a college biology course. The owner misspelled
the word as Spyro Gyra, and the band fell into place, featuring
Beckenstein, Wall, electric guitarist Chet Catallo, bassist
David Wolford, drummer Eli Konikoff and percussionist Gerardo
Velez. Not long afterward, the group added keyboardist Tom Schuman.
Spyro Gyra independently funded
and recorded their debut album, releasing the record on the
local independent label Amherst in 1976. The record slowly became
a success and Amherst sold the rights to the band to Infinity
Records, a division of MCA.
Morning Dance, their first album
for Infinity, was released in 1979. The record became a major
hit, spawning a Top 40 single with "Morning Dance" and going
platinum. In the wake of the record's success, Wall retired
from live performance, leaving Schuman as the group's main keyboardist;
Wall stayed with the band as an assistant producer and occasional
composer.Morning Dance
firmly placed Spyro Gyra as one of the most popular artists
in contemporary jazz, and throughout the '80s, their popularity
continued growing. Their albums were consistent best-sellers,
and their concerts often sold out. In 1983, vibraphonist/ marimba
player Dave Samuels — who had played on several of the group's
albums — became a full-fledged member of the band. Over the
course of the '80s, the membership of Spyro Gyra fluctuated,
but Beckenstein and Schuman remained at its core, keeping the
group's signature sound intact.
In 1990, MCA's jazz roster was
absorbed by GRP, so Spyro Gyra switched labels, releasing Fast
Forward, their first album for GRP, later that year. In 1993,
Samuels left the touring band, but he continued to play in the
studio. By the late '90s, the band featured Beckenstein, Schuman,
Julios Fernandez, Joel Rosenblatt and Scott Ambush, and released
Got the Magic in 1999. |
