Spyro Gyra
Encyclopedia
Spyro Gyra is an American
jazz fusion
band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York
, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre. Among their most successful hit singles are "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance
", which received significant play on popular music radio stations, and are still frequently heard nearly 30 years later on jazz and easy listening stations.
Their music, which has been influential in the development of smooth jazz
and is s staple on the numerous smooth jazz radio stations nationwide, combines jazz
with elements of R&B, funk
and pop music
. Although generally considered to be more "jazz" than "smooth", Spyro Gyra has been praised for their skilled instrumentalists and for their live performances, which average about 100 per year.
With the exception of alto saxophonist
, songwriter and founding bandleader Jay Beckenstein
and keyboardist Tom Schuman, the personnel has changed over time, as well as between the studio and the live stage. Today, guitarist Julio Fernandez is also in his third decade with the band.
The band's latest album A Foreign Affair, released on September 13, 2011 to generally great reviews, is a "throwback" to the early Spyro Gyra releases with strong global music content and occasionally using guest vocalists.
, who had met and formed a band during their high school
years. Although they headed in different directions during college
—Beckenstein to the State University of New York
in Buffalo
and Wall to Cal Arts
—they spent summers together playing outdoor concerts, and Wall moved to Buffalo soon after graduating.
Beckenstein had been working in clubs in Buffalo since his junior year of college, backing various vocalists. Wall teamed up with Beckenstein, and the two started playing instrumental
music—mostly covers of R&B songs—together. The other two musicians who were part of the nucleus were Buffalo natives Jim Kurzdorfer on bass and Tom Walsh on drums, although many people played in those early jam gatherings. An early regular on the Tuesday Night Jazz Jam scene was Buffalo percussionist Umbopha Emile Latimer. In Beckenstein's description of the Buffalo club scene of the time:
Over a year, their work evolved into Spyro Gyra. Wall has commented that their sound was a "gutbucket of rhythmic tradition. We did simple music and esoteric stuff. It all came together, this oddball mix, until we found a middle ground, our own groove".
The name Spyro Gyra is a misspelling of Spirogyra
, a genus of green algae
on which Beckenstein had written a college biology
paper years earlier. He recalls:
There were two main guitar players who appeared as part of the band around this time, Alfred "Fast Freddy" Rapillo (who would later go on to play for Rick James) and Rick Strauss. Tom Walsh had moved to California and the drum chair was alternately taken by Tom Duffy, Ted Reinhardt and others. Tom Schuman, who had been sitting in with the band since almost the beginning, when he was only sixteen, became a fixture in 1977 and the group had two keyboard players for a brief period until Jeremy Wall left the performing band in 1978.
The first eponymous album, self released in late 1977, reflected these personnel as well as some guests like Dave Samuels
and Rubens Bassini
, who would be part of Spyro Gyra recordings for years to come. That album attracted the attention of locally based Amherst Records, who then re-released the first album with new artwork. This debut album would go on to become one of Billboard's Top 40 Jazz Albums of 1978.
Bronx-born Gerardo Velez, who started his career with Jimi Hendrix
at Woodstock and would go on to play with many other artists and most recently as a member of Chic
, became a regular around this time. He would gain fame with the early fans as Spyro Gyra's "dancing percussionist".
The follow-up recording, Morning Dance, financed by Amherst, made it possible to record part of the album in New York City and include more notable guests like John Tropea
, Will Lee
, Steve Jordan
, Michael Brecker
, Randy Brecker
and Suzanne Ciani
. In the course of recording Morning Dance Eli Konikoff replaced Ted Reinhardt on drums and Freddy Rapillo returned to the group to replace Rick Strauss.
Late in 1978, prior to the release of the album, Rochester guitarist Chet Catallo replaced Freddy Rapillo in the band. The musical chairs of the revolving band membership, borne out of the jam scene beginnings of the band along with the appearance of guest musicians, set the template for the next few albums. The performing band became a standardized unit while the early recordings remained more of a collaboration of Jay Beckenstein, co-producer Richard Calandra and Jeremy Wall accompanied by some of the biggest names in the NYC jazz world.
, a New York City
based start-up label owned by MCA Records, the group appeared in most major cities in the United States and many jazz festivals in Europe in 1979. That album would become a platinum seller due to the Top 40 pop hit of the same name
, which would be a # 1 adult contemporary
(AC) single, Billboards #6 AC single of 1979. The album peaked at #11 in the UK Albums Chart
, while the single was a #17 success in the UK Singles Chart
.
Infinity Records
folded by the end of the year and Spyro Gyra's follow-up record, Catching The Sun was released on MCA Records in February 1980 to similar success. Morning Dance became Billboard's #3 Jazz Album of 1980 and Catching the Sun was the #4 jazz album of 1980. Catching The Sun peaked at #31 in the UK
. Bass player Jim Kurzdorfer left the group in 1980 and was replaced by David Wofford. They released their next album, Carnaval, in late 1980. Both Catching The Sun and Carnaval were gold selling albums; Carnaval would become Billboard's #7 jazz album of 1981.
Freetime, the group's fifth album, was released in 1981 and became the # 8 Jazz Album of 1982 as well as beginning their tradition of releasing a new album every year. 1982's Incognito represented a stylistic change in their artwork and featured Marcus Miller
, Steve Gadd
, Tom Scott
, Richard Tee
, Toots Thielemans
and Jorge Dalto
as guests and would be Billboard's # 8 Jazz Album of 1983.
1983's City Kids, would be the last album using this producer centric approach, calling on famous session musicians to play in place of the full time band members. City Kids incorporated bass player Kim Stone, who would later go on to a long career with the Rippingtons.
Breakout, the 1986 follow-up, would be the first with Manolo Badrena
as a full time member, replacing Gerardo Velez. Badrena was a veteran of Fusion titans Weather Report
and a previous guest musician on Spyro Gyra's albums. Alternating Currents and Breakout would be among the top 15 Jazz Albums in Billboard in 1986. Longtime co-producer Richard Calandra died in October 1986 of pancreatic cancer
.
1987 would see another personnel change within the band as Kim Stone left the band and the bass was taken over by Roberto Vally for the Stories Without Words album. Vally would go on to play with people like Michael Franks, Bobby Caldwell
, Boney James
, Boz Scaggs
, Arturo Sandoval
and Randy Crawford
.
1988's Rites Of Summer album would be the first of the band's history without a percussionist, other than the drummer. It would also be the introduction of Oscar Cartaya, later to play with Herb Alpert
, Jennifer Lopez
, Celia Cruz
, Rubén Blades
, Tito Puente
, Robbie Robertson
and Willie Colón
. Both Stories Without Words and Rites Of Summer would be among Billboard's top 15 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1988.
Point Of View would provide another turning point in 1989 for the band as Julio Fernandez left the band and was replaced by Jay Azzolina
. It was also the first album in five years to have a guest musician, Roger Squitero on percussion. Julio Fernandez was also listed as a guest musician for one song.
Fast Forward would bring another new face into the band in 1990. Marc Quiñones
would be with the band for two years and then go on to greater fame with The Allman Brothers Band
. Fast Forward would be another #1 Contemporary Jazz Album for the band and one of Billboard's top 10 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1990. Spyro Gyra would end the decade as Billboard's most successful jazz artist of the 1980s.
to Pure Prairie League
.
The next CD, 1992's Three Wishes marked the debut of bassist Scott Ambush and completed what was to become the most long lived version of the band's core lineup in its history. Three Wishes was notable for its stripped down, more acoustic approach to the majority of the songs.
The next CD, Dreams Beyond Control, was another about-face in the production approach which featured a large cast of supporting players and singers. Alex Ligertwood
, of the Santana
band, provided lead vocals, a first on a Spyro Gyra album. Also featured on this CD were the Tower Of Power
horns, Howard Levy
of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
, Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista
, former member and now Allman Brothers band member Marc Quiñones
and the NYC based No Sweat Horns. Despite being as well received as it was, this effort was swimming against the tide of the fashion made popular by the juggernaut that was Smooth Jazz
radio in the 90s.
The group made some effort to bridge that gap with their next release Love and other obsessions. This release featured two more traditional Smooth Jazz
type vocals with guests Deniece Williams
, Barrington Henderson, Billy Cliff and a host of other backing vocalists and musicians (which now included Dave Samuels
who left the band to pursue his own Caribbean Jazz Project
). The vocal tunes were an odd fit with the band's identity and this release marked the group's last flirtation with traditional R&B vocals. The instrumental "Ariana" from this album, did go on to become a #1 song at Smooth Jazz
radio. The band's next release, Heart Of The Night, marked a conscious effort to produce a "themed" album of songs signifying the "moods of the night" from romantic to jumpin' at the club.
The group's last studio album for GRP, 1997's 20/20 was named for its distinction of being the band's twentieth release in twenty years. This release was notable for its jazz version of James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and for the Spyro Gyra debut of guest trumpeter Chris Botti
, who went on to a huge career as a smooth jazz bandleader.
The band's last CD for GRP was 1998's live album, Road Scholars, the title being a sly nod to the band's history of 20 plus years and thousands of shows. This album was not as big a seller as the group's studio releases, but it began a critical reappraisal of the group's place in jazz history spurred by extended versions of familiar tunes, including the 10 minute plus piano trio version of the group's first hit, "Shaker Song."
The Nineties closed out with Got The Magic, a single release on Windham Hill Jazz, a new effort of the venerable new age
label to expand its identity into the Smooth Jazz
realm. This album featured another #1 song on Smooth Jazz
radio, "Silk and Satin," and a jazzy vocal by Basia
(Trzetrzelewska) written by trumpeter Jeff Beal
and his wife Joan.
as well as guest appearances by Dave Samuels
and Manhattan Transfer
's Janis Siegel. Also, in 2002 their former label GRP Records
released The Very Best of Spyro Gyra incorporating studio cuts from the prior decade and a live recording, also from the 90's, of their early hit "Morning Dance" as the closer.
2011 brought what is considered by many one of the finest Spyro Gyra releases A Foreign Affair, a return to the band's global music roots. With the veteran core of Beckenstein, Schuman, Fernandez and Ambush joined by Bonnie Bonaparte, in his 5th year on drums and percussion, as well as guest vocalists such as Keb' Mo', the album is a musical travelogue incorporating "souvenirs" from the Caribbean, Japan, Africa, Chile and all points between. The CD quickly reached the top 25 on Billboard's jazz charts.
nominations:
Spyro Gyra was awarded the George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards in 2007.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre. Among their most successful hit singles are "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance
Morning Dance (song)
"Morning Dance" is the title of an instrumental recording by the noted smooth jazz/jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. Released as a single from the band's second studio album of the same name in 1979, "Morning Dance" became a Top 40 hit in the United States, where it peaked at number 24 on the Billboard...
", which received significant play on popular music radio stations, and are still frequently heard nearly 30 years later on jazz and easy listening stations.
Their music, which has been influential in the development of smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
and is s staple on the numerous smooth jazz radio stations nationwide, combines jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
with elements of R&B, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. Although generally considered to be more "jazz" than "smooth", Spyro Gyra has been praised for their skilled instrumentalists and for their live performances, which average about 100 per year.
With the exception of alto saxophonist
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, songwriter and founding bandleader Jay Beckenstein
Jay Beckenstein
Jay B. Beckenstein is a saxophone player, smooth jazz artist and together with Jeremy Wall founded Spyro Gyra...
and keyboardist Tom Schuman, the personnel has changed over time, as well as between the studio and the live stage. Today, guitarist Julio Fernandez is also in his third decade with the band.
The band's latest album A Foreign Affair, released on September 13, 2011 to generally great reviews, is a "throwback" to the early Spyro Gyra releases with strong global music content and occasionally using guest vocalists.
Appearance on the Buffalo club scene
Spyro Gyra emerged around Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy WallJeremy Wall
Jeremy Wall is a musician, and along with Jay Beckenstein, he was a founding member of the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. He contributed to the group as a pianist, producer, and composer. He is currently an assistant professor in the Music Industry department at SUNY Oneonta.-Background:Wall formed...
, who had met and formed a band during their high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
years. Although they headed in different directions during college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
—Beckenstein to the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
and Wall to Cal Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
—they spent summers together playing outdoor concerts, and Wall moved to Buffalo soon after graduating.
Beckenstein had been working in clubs in Buffalo since his junior year of college, backing various vocalists. Wall teamed up with Beckenstein, and the two started playing instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
music—mostly covers of R&B songs—together. The other two musicians who were part of the nucleus were Buffalo natives Jim Kurzdorfer on bass and Tom Walsh on drums, although many people played in those early jam gatherings. An early regular on the Tuesday Night Jazz Jam scene was Buffalo percussionist Umbopha Emile Latimer. In Beckenstein's description of the Buffalo club scene of the time:
- Not many people know it, but Buffalo was like a mini Chicago back then, with a smoking blues, soul, jazz, even rockabilly scene, of all things.
Over a year, their work evolved into Spyro Gyra. Wall has commented that their sound was a "gutbucket of rhythmic tradition. We did simple music and esoteric stuff. It all came together, this oddball mix, until we found a middle ground, our own groove".
The name Spyro Gyra is a misspelling of Spirogyra
Spirogyra
Spirogyra is a genus of filamentous green algae of the order Zygnematales, named for the helical or spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts that is diagnostic of the genus. It is commonly found in freshwater areas, and there are more than 400 species of Spirogyra in the world. Spirogyra measures...
, a genus of green algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
on which Beckenstein had written a college biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
paper years earlier. He recalls:
- Before a gig in a Buffalo club that was called Jack Daniels, the owner twisted my arm for a band name. As a joke, I remembered the paper and said, 'Spirogyra'. He misspelled it 'Spyro Gyra,' advertised it that way, and it stuck.
Breaking out of Buffalo
As the popularity of the group increased, the band played more places around town, becoming a regular at the Tralfamadore Cafe in its original location, in a basement under a non-descript storefront on Main Street. That led to more opening slots for national acts and performances in nearby cities, Rochester and Cleveland.There were two main guitar players who appeared as part of the band around this time, Alfred "Fast Freddy" Rapillo (who would later go on to play for Rick James) and Rick Strauss. Tom Walsh had moved to California and the drum chair was alternately taken by Tom Duffy, Ted Reinhardt and others. Tom Schuman, who had been sitting in with the band since almost the beginning, when he was only sixteen, became a fixture in 1977 and the group had two keyboard players for a brief period until Jeremy Wall left the performing band in 1978.
The first eponymous album, self released in late 1977, reflected these personnel as well as some guests like Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels is an American vibraphone player who has worked with various jazz and fusion artists, such as Spyro Gyra. Currently, he plays in an ensemble called The Caribbean Jazz Project, a Grammy-winning jazz-Latin music group...
and Rubens Bassini
Rubens Bassini
Rubens Bassini was a percussionist who played bongos and congas above all. He played together with the band Os Ipanemas: Astor Silva Marinho Wilson das Neves and Neco ....
, who would be part of Spyro Gyra recordings for years to come. That album attracted the attention of locally based Amherst Records, who then re-released the first album with new artwork. This debut album would go on to become one of Billboard's Top 40 Jazz Albums of 1978.
Bronx-born Gerardo Velez, who started his career with Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
at Woodstock and would go on to play with many other artists and most recently as a member of Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
, became a regular around this time. He would gain fame with the early fans as Spyro Gyra's "dancing percussionist".
The follow-up recording, Morning Dance, financed by Amherst, made it possible to record part of the album in New York City and include more notable guests like John Tropea
John Tropea
John Tropea is a guitarist with extensive experience in the rock, pop, and jazz genres. Tropea has written for and played with major recording artists from around the world...
, Will Lee
Will Lee (bassist)
Will Lee aka William Franklin Lee IV is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work on the CBS television program The Late Show with David Letterman as part of the CBS Orchestra....
, Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan
Steve Jordan is the name of:*Steve Jordan , American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer from New York City*Esteban Jordan , American conjunto and Tejano musician...
, Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
and Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani
Suzanne Ciani is an Italian American pianist and music composer who found early success with innovative electronic music.-Education:...
. In the course of recording Morning Dance Eli Konikoff replaced Ted Reinhardt on drums and Freddy Rapillo returned to the group to replace Rick Strauss.
Late in 1978, prior to the release of the album, Rochester guitarist Chet Catallo replaced Freddy Rapillo in the band. The musical chairs of the revolving band membership, borne out of the jam scene beginnings of the band along with the appearance of guest musicians, set the template for the next few albums. The performing band became a standardized unit while the early recordings remained more of a collaboration of Jay Beckenstein, co-producer Richard Calandra and Jeremy Wall accompanied by some of the biggest names in the NYC jazz world.
The early albums
The March 1979 release of Morning Dance provided the group their breakthrough on the national and international scene. Through the efforts of Infinity RecordsInfinity Records
Infinity Records was a short-lived subsidiary of MCA Records established in New York City in 1977. The label was conceived by MCA president Sidney Sheinberg as a way for the Los Angeles-based entertainment conglomerate to improve its presence on the East Coast...
, a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
based start-up label owned by MCA Records, the group appeared in most major cities in the United States and many jazz festivals in Europe in 1979. That album would become a platinum seller due to the Top 40 pop hit of the same name
Morning Dance (song)
"Morning Dance" is the title of an instrumental recording by the noted smooth jazz/jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. Released as a single from the band's second studio album of the same name in 1979, "Morning Dance" became a Top 40 hit in the United States, where it peaked at number 24 on the Billboard...
, which would be a # 1 adult contemporary
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
(AC) single, Billboards #6 AC single of 1979. The album peaked at #11 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, while the single was a #17 success in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Infinity Records
Infinity Records
Infinity Records was a short-lived subsidiary of MCA Records established in New York City in 1977. The label was conceived by MCA president Sidney Sheinberg as a way for the Los Angeles-based entertainment conglomerate to improve its presence on the East Coast...
folded by the end of the year and Spyro Gyra's follow-up record, Catching The Sun was released on MCA Records in February 1980 to similar success. Morning Dance became Billboard's #3 Jazz Album of 1980 and Catching the Sun was the #4 jazz album of 1980. Catching The Sun peaked at #31 in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Bass player Jim Kurzdorfer left the group in 1980 and was replaced by David Wofford. They released their next album, Carnaval, in late 1980. Both Catching The Sun and Carnaval were gold selling albums; Carnaval would become Billboard's #7 jazz album of 1981.
Freetime, the group's fifth album, was released in 1981 and became the # 8 Jazz Album of 1982 as well as beginning their tradition of releasing a new album every year. 1982's Incognito represented a stylistic change in their artwork and featured Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
, Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
, Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)
Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...
, Richard Tee
Richard Tee
Richard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
, Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
and Jorge Dalto
Jorge Dalto
Jorge Dalto was a pop, jazz and Afro-Latin pianist and the former musical director for George Benson. He also performed with Tito Puente, Grover Washington, Fuse One, Gato Barbieri, Willie Colon and others...
as guests and would be Billboard's # 8 Jazz Album of 1983.
1983's City Kids, would be the last album using this producer centric approach, calling on famous session musicians to play in place of the full time band members. City Kids incorporated bass player Kim Stone, who would later go on to a long career with the Rippingtons.
1980s
1984 saw the release of the live Access All Areas, which would become Billboard's # 11 Jazz Album of 1984. AAA was the first album of Jay Beckenstein's new "band-centric" approach to Spyro Gyra. It also introduced Dave Samuels as a full time member of the band. Eli Konikoff and Chet Catallo left the band just prior to its release to be replaced by Richie Morales and Julio Fernandez, respectively. It was this core unit that recorded 1985's Alternating Currents, which spurred the group's mid-80s resurgence with the hit "Shakedown". Guitarist Fernandez - along with Beckenstein and Schuman - became the third member to have a multi-decade career with the band, intermittently until the present.Breakout, the 1986 follow-up, would be the first with Manolo Badrena
Manolo Badrena
Manolo Badrena is a percussionist most noted for his work with Weather Report from 1976 to 1977. He has made contributions to over 100 recordings that span jazz, world music, pop, and Latin music...
as a full time member, replacing Gerardo Velez. Badrena was a veteran of Fusion titans Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
and a previous guest musician on Spyro Gyra's albums. Alternating Currents and Breakout would be among the top 15 Jazz Albums in Billboard in 1986. Longtime co-producer Richard Calandra died in October 1986 of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
.
1987 would see another personnel change within the band as Kim Stone left the band and the bass was taken over by Roberto Vally for the Stories Without Words album. Vally would go on to play with people like Michael Franks, Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his 30-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love". While he has always maintained a devoted fan base in the United States, a legendary...
, Boney James
Boney James
Boney James, is a saxophonist, songwriter and producer who popularized urban jazz...
, Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
, Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a jazz trumpeter and pianist. He was born in Artemisa, in the newest renamed Artemisa Province, Cuba....
and Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
.
1988's Rites Of Summer album would be the first of the band's history without a percussionist, other than the drummer. It would also be the introduction of Oscar Cartaya, later to play with Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
, Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...
, Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
, Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
and Willie Colón
Willie Colón
William Anthony Colón is a Nuyorican salsa musician. Primarily a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City.-Early years:...
. Both Stories Without Words and Rites Of Summer would be among Billboard's top 15 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1988.
Point Of View would provide another turning point in 1989 for the band as Julio Fernandez left the band and was replaced by Jay Azzolina
Jay Azzolina
Jay Azzolina is a jazz-fusion style guitarist primarily known for his work with the Grammy-winning group Spyro Gyra. He has also performed and recorded with artists including Carly Simon, Donna Summer, The Manhattan Transfer, Herbie Mann, Rickie Lee Jones and Chuck Mangione.- Overview :Azzolina...
. It was also the first album in five years to have a guest musician, Roger Squitero on percussion. Julio Fernandez was also listed as a guest musician for one song.
Fast Forward would bring another new face into the band in 1990. Marc Quiñones
Marc Quiñones
Marc Quiñones is an Puerto Rican American percussionist, a longtime player in salsa music, and a member of the Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band....
would be with the band for two years and then go on to greater fame with The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
. Fast Forward would be another #1 Contemporary Jazz Album for the band and one of Billboard's top 10 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1990. Spyro Gyra would end the decade as Billboard's most successful jazz artist of the 1980s.
1990s
The 1990s provided the band with new challenges and a stable line-up for most of the decade. Guitarist Julio Fernandez rejoined the band for their 1991 Collection CD, a Best Of... which also featured two new songs. These two new songs on Collection marked the debut of drummer Joel Rosenblatt who had previously played with artists ranging from Michel CamiloMichel Camilo
Michel Camilo is a pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work...
to Pure Prairie League
Pure Prairie League
Pure Prairie League, sometimes abbreviated PPL, is an American country-rock band whose roots began between 1964 and 1969 in Waverly, Ohio with Craig Fuller, George Powell, Tom McGrail, Jim Caughlan and John David Call. In 1970 McGrail named the band after a 19th century temperance union mentioned...
.
The next CD, 1992's Three Wishes marked the debut of bassist Scott Ambush and completed what was to become the most long lived version of the band's core lineup in its history. Three Wishes was notable for its stripped down, more acoustic approach to the majority of the songs.
The next CD, Dreams Beyond Control, was another about-face in the production approach which featured a large cast of supporting players and singers. Alex Ligertwood
Alex Ligertwood
Alex Ligertwood is a Scottish singer, guitarist and drummer, best known as the lead vocalist of Santana...
, of the Santana
Santana
Santana is the name or partial name of numerous people, places and companies worldwide. It is derived from the contraction of "Santa Ana" or Saint Anne...
band, provided lead vocals, a first on a Spyro Gyra album. Also featured on this CD were the Tower Of Power
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
horns, Howard Levy
Howard Levy
Howard Levy is a Grammy Award–winning, American harmonicist, pianist, composer, and producer....
of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is a primarily instrumental group from the United States, that draws equally on bluegrass, fusion and jazz, sometimes dubbed "blu-bop". The band formed in 1988, initially to perform once on the PBS series Lonesome Pine Specials. The Flecktones have toured extensively...
, Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian musician, teacher, and recording artist specializing in percussion in the genres of jazz and world music....
, former member and now Allman Brothers band member Marc Quiñones
Marc Quiñones
Marc Quiñones is an Puerto Rican American percussionist, a longtime player in salsa music, and a member of the Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band....
and the NYC based No Sweat Horns. Despite being as well received as it was, this effort was swimming against the tide of the fashion made popular by the juggernaut that was Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
radio in the 90s.
The group made some effort to bridge that gap with their next release Love and other obsessions. This release featured two more traditional Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
type vocals with guests Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
, Barrington Henderson, Billy Cliff and a host of other backing vocalists and musicians (which now included Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels is an American vibraphone player who has worked with various jazz and fusion artists, such as Spyro Gyra. Currently, he plays in an ensemble called The Caribbean Jazz Project, a Grammy-winning jazz-Latin music group...
who left the band to pursue his own Caribbean Jazz Project
Caribbean Jazz Project
Caribbean Jazz Project is a Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban jazz group including Dave Samuels, Paquito D'Rivera and Andy Narell. They might be best known for their 2002 album The Gathering. They have recorded seven albums, five for the Concord Jazz label, one for Inak Records and one for Heads...
). The vocal tunes were an odd fit with the band's identity and this release marked the group's last flirtation with traditional R&B vocals. The instrumental "Ariana" from this album, did go on to become a #1 song at Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
radio. The band's next release, Heart Of The Night, marked a conscious effort to produce a "themed" album of songs signifying the "moods of the night" from romantic to jumpin' at the club.
The group's last studio album for GRP, 1997's 20/20 was named for its distinction of being the band's twentieth release in twenty years. This release was notable for its jazz version of James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and for the Spyro Gyra debut of guest trumpeter Chris Botti
Chris Botti
Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...
, who went on to a huge career as a smooth jazz bandleader.
The band's last CD for GRP was 1998's live album, Road Scholars, the title being a sly nod to the band's history of 20 plus years and thousands of shows. This album was not as big a seller as the group's studio releases, but it began a critical reappraisal of the group's place in jazz history spurred by extended versions of familiar tunes, including the 10 minute plus piano trio version of the group's first hit, "Shaker Song."
The Nineties closed out with Got The Magic, a single release on Windham Hill Jazz, a new effort of the venerable new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
label to expand its identity into the Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
realm. This album featured another #1 song on Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
radio, "Silk and Satin," and a jazzy vocal by Basia
Basia
Basia Trzetrzelewska is a Polish singer-songwriter and record producer. She established a successful international recording career featuring characteristically Latin-flavoured jazz-pop crossover songs during the late 1980s and early 1990s and the late 2000s and 2010s, particularly in the United...
(Trzetrzelewska) written by trumpeter Jeff Beal
Jeff Beal
Jeff Beal is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal's music often incorporates a synthesis of improvisatory and composed elements.- Early life :Beal began trumpet studies in the...
and his wife Joan.
The New Millennium
During the first decade of the 2000's, Spyro Gyra released - on average every 18 months or so - several largely formulaic CD's on the Heads UP label, with the exception of Grammy-winning A Night Before Christmas (2008) that includes a Beckenstein original sung by Christine EbersoleChristine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Ebersole was born in Winnetka, Illinois, where she attended New Trier High School...
as well as guest appearances by Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels is an American vibraphone player who has worked with various jazz and fusion artists, such as Spyro Gyra. Currently, he plays in an ensemble called The Caribbean Jazz Project, a Grammy-winning jazz-Latin music group...
and Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer may refer to:* Manhattan Transfer , a Pennsylvania Railroad station in New Jersey* Manhattan Transfer , a 1925 novel by John Dos Passos* The Manhattan Transfer, a jazz, swing, R&B and pop group founded in 1969...
's Janis Siegel. Also, in 2002 their former label GRP Records
GRP Records
GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
released The Very Best of Spyro Gyra incorporating studio cuts from the prior decade and a live recording, also from the 90's, of their early hit "Morning Dance" as the closer.
2011 brought what is considered by many one of the finest Spyro Gyra releases A Foreign Affair, a return to the band's global music roots. With the veteran core of Beckenstein, Schuman, Fernandez and Ambush joined by Bonnie Bonaparte, in his 5th year on drums and percussion, as well as guest vocalists such as Keb' Mo', the album is a musical travelogue incorporating "souvenirs" from the Caribbean, Japan, Africa, Chile and all points between. The CD quickly reached the top 25 on Billboard's jazz charts.
Albums
| Title | |Year of Release | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Spyro Gyra Spyro Gyra (album) Spyro Gyra is the self-titled debut album from fusion group Spyro Gyra released in 1978. The cover shows a picture of DNA in a galaxy in space... |
1978 | Amherst Records |
| Morning Dance Morning Dance Morning Dance is Spyro Gyra's most commercially successful album, released in the summer of 1979. The title cut became a major hit also in the summer of 1979.-Track listing and personnel:... |
1979 | MCA Records MCA Records MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003... |
| Catching the Sun Catching the Sun Catching the Sun is the third album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1980 . The album showed an alto saxophone on the ground by a deciduous forest.- Track Listing and personnel :# "Catching the Sun" - 4:42... |
1980 | MCA Records |
| Carnaval Carnaval (Spyro Gyra album) - Track listing :# "Cafe A'More" - 5:02# "Dizzy" - 4:40# "Awakening" - 5:48# "Cachaca" - 4:18# "Fox Trot" - 4:40# "Sweet 'N Savvy" - 5:12... |
1980 | MCA Records |
| Freetime Freetime (album) Freetime is the fifth album by Spyro Gyra released in 1981 . The album hit number 1 on Billboard's jazz albums chart, 29 on the black albums chart, and 41 on the pop albums chart.- Track listing :... |
1981 | MCA Records |
| Incognito Incognito (Spyro Gyra album) - Track listing and personnel :1. "Last Exit" - 4:17*Jay Beckenstein: Saxopohone*Tom Schuman: Yamaha GS-1, Synthesizers*Steve Love: Guitar*Will Lee: Bass*Steve Gadd: Drums*Gerardo Velez: Percussion*Manolo Badrena: Congas... |
1982 | MCA Records |
| City Kids City Kids (Spyro Gyra album) City Kids is the seventh album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1983 .- Track listing :# "City Kids" - 5:11# "Serpent In Paradise" - 4:45# "A Ballad" - 5:42... |
1983 | MCA Records |
| Access All Areas Access All Areas (Spyro Gyra album) Access All Areas is the eighth studio album and first live album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1984 .- Track listing :# "Shaker Song" – 7:14# "Serpent In Paradise" – 5:56... (live) |
1984 | MCA Records |
| Alternating Currents Alternating Currents (Spyro Gyra album) Alternating Currents is the ninth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1985 .- Track listing :# "Shakedown" – 4:22# Alternating Currents" – 4:28# "Taking the Plunge " – 4:48... |
1985 | MCA Records |
| Breakout Breakout (Spyro Gyra album) - Track listing :#"Bob Goes to the Store" - 4:36#"Freefall" - 4:52#"Doubletake" - 4:05#"Breakout" - 4:37#"Body Wave" - 4:09#"Whirlwind" - 5:37... |
1986 | MCA Records |
| Stories Without Words Stories Without Words Stories Without Words is the eleventh album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1987 .- Track listing :#"Cayo Hueso" - 5:29#"Serpentine Shelly" - 4:33#"Del Corazon" - 6:25... |
1987 | MCA Records |
| Rites of Summer Rites Of Summer Rites Of Summer is the twelfth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1988 .- Track listing :# "Claire's Dream" – 5:39# "Daddy's Got A New Girl Now" – 4:02# "Limelight" – 4:27... |
1988 | MCA Records |
| Point Of View Point Of View (Spyro Gyra album) Point Of View is the thirteenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1989 .- Track listing :# "Slow Burn" - 4:07 # "Swing Street" - 5:13 # "Fairweather" - 4:46... |
1989 | MCA Records |
| Fast Forward Fast Forward (Spyro Gyra album) Fast Forward is the fourteenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1990 . The album showed a bunch of people in the future sightseeing in a museum.- Track listing :# "Bright Lights" - 5:20... |
1990 | GRP |
| Three Wishes Three Wishes (Spyro Gyra album) Three Wishes is the sixteenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1992 . The album cover shows a kaleidoscope with a magic lamp in between.- Track listing :*"Jennifer's Lullaby" was dedicated to the memory of Stan Getz.... |
1992 | GRP |
| Dreams Beyond Control Dreams Beyond Control Dreams Beyond Control is the seventeenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1993 .- Track listing :# "Walk the Walk" – 4:20# "Patterns in the Rain" – 4:38... |
1993 | GRP |
| Love and Other Obsessions Love and Other Obsessions Love and Other Obsessions is the eighteenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1995 . The album cover showed a bunch of people dancing in the cloudy sky.- Track listing :#"Lost and Found" – 5:09... |
1995 | GRP |
| Heart of the Night Heart of the Night Heart of the Night is the nineteenth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1996 .- Track listing :#"Heart of the Night" – 4:34#"De La Luz" – 5:14#"Westwood Moon" – 4:56... |
1996 | GRP |
| 20/20 20/20 (Spyro Gyra album) 20/20 is the twentieth album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1997 . The album showed a bunch of closed particles around a sun under a microscope.- Track listing :# "The Unwritten Letter" – 5:07... |
1997 | GRP |
| Road Scholars Road Scholars Road Scholars is the second live album by Spyro Gyra recorded and released on March 24, 1998, making it their twenty-third album overall. The album depicted a very crooked warning sign on top of a map.- Track listing :... (live) |
1998 | GRP |
| Got the Magic Got the Magic (Spyro Gyra album) Got the Magic is the twenty-fourth album by Spyro Gyra which was recorded and released in 1999. The album depicted just one set of eyes on a white screen.- Review :... |
1999 | Windham Hill Jazz Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected... |
| In Modern Times In Modern Times In Modern Times is the twenty-fifth album by Spyro Gyra recorded and released in 2001 . This was the first album on Heads Up Records.- Review :... |
2001 | Heads Up Heads Up International Heads Up International is an independent jazz and contemporary instrumental label located in Cleveland, Ohio.Founded in 1990 by Dave Love, Heads Up International has gained international recognition for its contribution to the world of contemporary instrumental music... |
| Original Cinema Original Cinema Original Cinema is the twenty-sixth album by Spyro Gyra, recorded and released on February 25, 2003 .- Review :A slightly sharper edge surfaces in Spyro Gyra's second effort for the Telarc-affiliated Heads Up label. While their performance still tilts more toward easy listening than searing fusion,... |
2003 | Heads Up |
| The Deep End The Deep End (Spyro Gyra album) The Deep End is the twenty-seventh album by Spyro Gyra recorded and released on May 25, 2004. The album cover showed a figure of a man about to dive into the ocean.- Review :... |
2004 | Heads Up |
| Wrapped in a Dream Wrapped in a Dream Wrapped in a Dream is the twenty-eighth album by Spyro Gyra recorded and released in 2006. The album showed a shadow of two people dancing together.- Review :... |
2006 | Heads Up |
| Good to Go-Go Good to Go-Go Good to Go-Go is the twenty-ninth album by Spyro Gyra, recorded and released on June 12, 2007. Many songs on the album have been featured on The Weather Channel's "Local On The 8s" segments... |
2007 | Heads Up |
| A Night Before Christmas | 2008 | Heads Up |
| Down the Wire | 2009 | Heads Up |
| A Foreign Affair | 2011 | Amherst Records |
Compilations/box sets
| Title | |Year of Release | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Collection Collection (Spyro Gyra album) Collection is the fifteenth and debut compilation album by Spyro Gyra, released in 1991 . The album cover showed a couple of fairies above a city with flowers.- Track listing and personnel :1... |
1991 | GRP |
| The Best of Spyro Gyra - The first ten years The Best of Spyro Gyra - The first ten years The Best of Spyro Gyra – The First Ten Years is the second compilation album by Spyro Gyra released in 1998 making their twenty-second album overall... |
1998 | GRP |
| The Very Best of Spyro Gyra | 2002 | GRP |
Awards and nominations
Spyro Gyra has received the following GrammyGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominations:
- 1980: Best Jazz Fusion PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality jazz fusion performances...
for "Catching the Sun" - 1982: Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental PerformanceGrammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance was awarded from 1970 to 1990 and in 1993. The award had several minor name changes:*From 1970 to 1985 the award was known as Best R&B Instrumental Performance...
for "Stripes" - 1982: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Incognito"
- 1983: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "City Kids"
- 1984: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Access All Areas"
- 1985: Best Pop Instrumental PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...
for "Shakedown" - 1985: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Alternating Currents"
- 2007: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre...
for Wrapped in a Dream - 2008: Best Pop Instrumental PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...
for "Simple Pleasures" from Good to Go-Go - 2008: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre...
for Good to Go-Go - 2009: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre...
for "A Night Before Christmas" - 2010: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumGrammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre...
for "Down The Wire"
Spyro Gyra was awarded the George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards in 2007.