Jazz

Spyro Gyra - Access All Areas (1984)

2011-04-24T20:55:33Z

Spyro Gyra - Access All Areas (1984)


1. Shaker Song	7:14
2. Serpent in Paradise	5:56	play
3. Heliopolis	11:49
4. Harbor Nights	7:04
5. Conversations	8:30
6. Schu's Blues	4:47		play
7. Morning Dance	5:37
8. Islands in the Sky	6:29
9. Sea Biscuit	6:04
10. Latin Streets	8:24

Personnel: 
Chet Catallo (guitar); 
Jay Beckenstein (saxophone, percussion); 
Jeremy Wall (keyboards, percussion); 
Tom Schuman (keyboards); 
Dave Samuels (vibraphone, marimba); 
Eli Konikoff (drums); 
Gerardo Velez (percussion).

Access All Areas is a fantastic Spyro Gyra cd. It is also their only one that is live. It was originally produced back in 1984. This album features many of their early hit songs. They are also in a different manner and end more abruptly because all of the tracks are played live before an audience. All songs are terrific, however. Note, that the piece Old San Juan doesn't appear on this album do to time restraints.

My top 3 favorite songs from this compilation, would be tracks 5,7, and 10. Conversations is a rapidly paced, terrific song. It has a nice, jazzy beat. The musicians play very well, and it's obvious, this song being a demonstration, that the group is very talented. Especially, the drums solo on it. It actually sounds like Neil Peart is playing it, it's that good. Morning Dance is a very relaxing, tropical-like piece. Latin Streets is a good song with a good keyboard part and amazing guitar part. All other songs are extended from their usual times on their debut records and are played to perfection.

All around, this cd rocks. It's good to have it in your collection. Seeming how it is the only live Spyro Gyra album, so far. Definetly worth it. Thank you for taking the time and generosity to read my review. ---T.J. Wiebe

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Spyro Gyra - The Deep End (2004)

2010-03-11T11:09:33Z

Spyro Gyra - The Deep End (2004)


1. Summer Fling 
2. East Lake Shuffle 
3. Monsoon 
4. As You Wish 
5. Soburg Jam 
6. Crossing, The 
7. Wiggle Room 
8. Wind Warriors 
9. In Your Arms 
10. Chippewa Street 
11. Beyond The Rain 

Julio Fernandez (vocals, guitar); 
Jay Beckenstein (saxophone); 
Scott Ambush (bass instrument). 
Don Harris (trumpet); 
Dave Samuels (vibraphone); 
Joel Rosenblatt, Billy Kilson, Ludwig Afonso (drums); 
Daniel Sadownick, David Charles, Cyro Baptista (percussion).

With their third label release, the longtime contemporary jazz powerhouse ensemble led by fluid and funky sax legend Jay Beckenstein celebrates 30 years of a consistent mix of making instrumental pop hits and pushing the musical envelopes into fusion territory. The title promises a plunge into something deep, or at least a little stretching, and the band -- showcasing new drummer Ludwig Alfonso on a few tunes -- more than delivers. But not right away. They open smooth and light-funky with the playful, sax-driven "Summer Fling," which is breezy and fun but only digs deep with Tom Schuman's heavily retro key solo. "Eastlake Shuffle" balances Beckenstein's adventurous sax punch with a heavy blues mood driven by Schuman and the rockin' guitar harmonies and solo of Julio Fernandez. Things don't really heat up until the exotic fusion jam "Monsoon," a live show crowd-pleaser that builds from an Indian-flavored meditation (complete with distant chance and bird calls) into a moody sitar-laced melody before exploding into a powerful, blues-drenched extravaganza featuring some of Beckenstein's most powerful lines blended with Fernandez's brimming, ready-to-explode guitar on the hook. From this point, the band alternates its light moods ("As You Wish") with more aggressive and sometimes blistering rock-flavored explorations ("Joburg Jam," one of the four tracks featuring the shimmering vibes action of Dave Samuels, "Wiggle Room"). Most veteran bands would gasp for survival in the culture of stricter radio formats by playing it ever safer and trendy, but Spyro Gyra has never been most bands. Each release has a few sweet pleasantries (and even these feature magnificent musicianship) but a great deal more energy and blowing than today's average smooth jazz listener is used to. It's worth the plunge. ---Jonathan Widran, Rovi

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Spyro Gyra – A Foreign Affair (2011)

2011-07-24T08:41:57Z

Spyro Gyra – A Foreign Affair (2011)


01 – Caribe
02 – Khuda
03 – Sweet Ole Thang		play
04 – Shinjuku
05 – Chileno Boys
06 – Samba For Two
07 – Cancao de Ninar
08 – Falling Walls			play
09 – Antigua
10 – Last Call
11 – Dancing On Table Mountain

Musicians:
Scott Ambush – bass
Jay Beckenstein – sax
Julio Fernandez – guitar
Tom Schuman – keyboards
Bonny B - drums

Spyro Gyra started out with the rhythms of the world. From the samba rhythms and Caribbean feel of their early hits to the latest album, they have made it a point to embrace the music of the places they have visited. Their new album, A Foreign Affair, is ready to take you around the world from the Caribbean to South America, and even to South Africa, India and Japan. Besides the memorable instrumentals, there are also three vocal tunes, one of which features Grammy® winning Keb' Mo'. ---Editorial Reviews

Sometimes when you fall in love, you know it from the first embrace. A Foreign Affair is the story of five guys and their love affair with the music of the world. This album from the venerable jazz group Spyro Gyra takes you on a journey to the music closest to them from some places in some cases farthest from them. A Foreign Affair draws from the experiences of an enduring international career, one that has taken them to the far reaches of the globe. It’s no secret that Spyro Gyra started out their career with the rhythms of the world.

From the samba rhythms and Caribbean feel of their early hits to the latest album, these musicians have made it a point to embrace the music wherever they go. For instance, not long ago they played shows in New Jersey and Rochester NY but then left the U.S. to perform in Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, India, Martinique and South Africa. That’s in less than one month. That tour is something of what this new album sounds like if you just add in a few more places.

It’s a sign of how enduring this band’s career is that, thirty-five years after their first album, their four most recent albums were each nominated for a Grammy®. “One of the benefits of being in this band is that our music is popular all over the planet. Inevitably, we experience the local culture and inevitably we absorb some of those influences,” explains leader and saxophonist Jay Beckenstein. “The guys and I were talking about what we wanted to do with this record before we started. We decided to make it all about that. We’ve actually been talking about making this record for years.” So, is A Foreign Affair, drawing liberally from the music of the world, a world music album? Beckenstein says not really. “It’s more Spyro Gyra being influenced by the world. We’re not trying to emulate any musical style in its pure native form. We’re not trying to play ‘perfect’ salsa or traditional Indian music, for instance. Sometimes it means borrowing directly from another style, particularly in the rhythms, but mainly we’re flavoring our music with these influences.” --- smoothjazzdaily.wordpress.com

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Sруrо Gуrа - Тhе Rhinеbесk Sеssiоns (2013)

2015-05-17T16:37:23Z

Sруrо Gуrа - Тhе Rhinеbесk Sеssiоns (2013)


1. Serious Delivery (8:12)
2. Wishful Thinking (5:28)
3. Not Unlike That (6:12)
4. Sorbet (7:25)
5. I Know What You Mingus (7:37)
6. Off The Cuff (6:07)
7. Clubhouse Jam (5:16)
8. Odds Get Even (5:39)
9. Who Knew! (5:38)

Jay Beckenstein – Saxophones
Tom Schuman – Keyboards
Julio Fernandez – Guitars
Scott Ambush - Bass
Lee Pearson - Drums & Percussion

In April 2013, Jay Beckenstein and the members of Spyro Gyra entered a recording studio in Rhinebeck, NY, a small town in the Hudson Valley not too far from Woodstock. Beckenstein and his bandmates set out to do something that they had never done before in their nearly forty year history – improvise with each other over three days and in the process write and record an entire new album.

“As I thought about doing another record, I asked myself, what is it that makes Spyro Gyra special?” Beckenstein explains, “I decided that it was the fact that we have been together so long that the communication between us has become almost mystical. Our ability to improvise on the fly has become so strong because we have played together so much. It was time to go into the studio with very little planned and see what might come out of it.”

Beckenstein concedes, “It was a bit of a gamble but we’re lucky to have a loyal fan base who are probably going to be interested in what we’re doing. I was also fairly confident that whatever came out of it would be pretty close to the way we have approached our live shows for years.” --- spyrogyra.com

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