|
Down The Wire
''Down the Wire'' is the thirty-first album by Spyro Gyra, released on April 28, 2009. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2010. ''Down the Wire'' peaked at No. 9 on the jazz album chart at ''Billboard'' magazine. Track listing Personnel Spyro Gyra * Jay Beckenstein – saxophones * Tom Schuman – keyboards * Julio Fernández – guitars * Scott Ambush – bass guitar * Bonny Bonaparte – drums, percussion, vocals Additional musicians * Gerardo Velez – percussion (2, 7), horn (8) * Marc Quiñones – percussion (8) * Bill Harris – tenor saxophone, flute * Ozzie Melendez Osvaldo Melendez Jr, known professionally as Ozzie Melendez, has been a highly regarded studio musician and touring artist in various genres of the music industry since the mid- 1980’s. He has performed with some of the biggest names in the ind ... – trombone * Don Harris – trumpet Production * Jay Beckenstein – producer * Dave Love – executive produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenstein had learned about in college. History Early years Saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall formed a band with jazz and rock musicians who were playing in the Buffalo bar and club circuit. In 1974, when a bar owner asked for the band's name, Beckenstein said, "spirogyra", a type of algae he had learned about in school. The bar owner wrote the name incorrectly, "Spyro Gyra", but it stuck. The founding members of the band were Beckenstein, Wall, bassist Jim Kurzdorfer, drummer Tom Walsh, and keyboardist Tom Schuman. In 1977, they released '' Spyro Gyra'' independently before making a deal with Amherst Records, which re-released the album with a different cover. It included "Shaker Song," which reached No. 90 on Billboard's H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz Fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in rock and roll started to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll. Jazz fusion arrangements vary in complexity. Some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with counter-melodies. These arrangements, whether simple or complex, typically include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other forms of jazz. As with jazz, jazz fusion can employ brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments often substitute for these. A jazz fusion band is less likely to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heads Up International
Heads Up International is a jazz record label that was formed in Cleveland, Ohio. It was bought by the Concord Music Group in 2005. History The label got its name from a jazz group that Dave Love formed while attending North Texas State University. After college, Love became musical director for Donald Byrd. Later, he recorded an album with his band and soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman. While trying to sell the album to record labels, he took a position as National Director of Sales & Marketing for Oxymoron P&D, where executives convinced him to start his own label with his album. Using Oxymoron for distribution, Love began Heads Up International in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The label's first album was ''The Energy of the Chance'' by Dave Liebman. In 2000, Heads Up International merged with Telarc International Corporation. In 2005 the two companies were acquired by the Concord Music Group. The label's roster includes Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot, Fourplay, Mike Stern, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Night Before Christmas
''A Night Before Christmas'' is the thirtieth album (and first Christmas album) by Spyro Gyra, recorded and released in 2008. Janis Siegel of the Manhattan Transfer sings on "Baby, It's Cold Outside". The album peaked at No. 14 on the Holiday Albums chart at ''Billboard'' magazine. Track listing Personnel Spyro Gyra * Jay Beckenstein – saxophones * Tom Schuman – pianos * Julio Fernández – guitars * Scott Ambush – basses * Bonny Bonnaparte – drums, vocals (5, 11) Additional musicians * Dave Samuels – vibraphone (3, 6) * Christine Ebersole – vocals (2) * Janis Siegel – vocals (5) Production * Dave Love – executive producer * Jay Beckenstein – producer * Spyro Gyra – arrangements * Kieran Paradis – engineer * Jeff Shreiner – engineer * Robert Harari – additional engineer * Mark Urselli – additional engineer * Doug Oberkircher – mixing * Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Foreign Affair (Spyro Gyra Album)
''A Foreign Affair'' is an album by American jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. The album is the story of five men and their love affair with music. The album contains a Hindi song ''Khuda'' sung by Arijit Singh, composed by Sandeep Chowta and co-produced by Chowta and Spyro Gyra. It is the first time a Western group has released a song with lyrics entirely in Hindi. Track listing Release and chart history The album was released on September 13, 2011. Upon release the album was positioned at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Albums chart. Release history Critical reception AllMusic's Jonathan Widran opined that "the most interesting tracks are the beautiful, poignant vocal tracks by Keb' Mo' and Fernandez" and stated the band "still had something fresh to say while fearlessly entering their fifth decade of recording". JazzTimes's Brian Soergel concluded the review stating "this is the CD that many casual Spyro Gyra fans have been waiting for". Howard Dukes from Soul Tracks prais ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammy Award For Best Pop Instrumental Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (previously: 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. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position". The award was first presented to Joe Jackson in 2001. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is presented to albums containing "at least 51% playing time of newly recorded pop instrumental tracks". As of 2020, Larry Carlton, Booker T. Jones and Snarky Puppy are the only musicians to receive the award more than once. Gerald Albright has received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Ambush
Scott Antel Ambush is an American musician, best known as the bass player of jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. Biography He was born April 28, 1960 in Frederick, Maryland to Webster and Jeanette Lofton Ambush. He attended Urbana Elementary School in Urbana, Maryland, West Frederick Middle, and Frederick High School. After high school, he attended the University of Maryland at College Park. While studying psychology during the day, he was introduced to the Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ... music scene at night. Through word of mouth, he was recommended for the bass job with Spyro Gyra and filled the bass space after audition. He made his studio debut with Spyro Gyra in 1992 on the album "Three Wishes". Discography Albums (with Spyro Gyra) Albums (w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Schuman
Thomas William Schuman (born January 31, 1958) is an American jazz pianist, smooth jazz keyboardist, the co-leader, composer and arranger. of 13 Grammy nominated contemporary jazz group, Spyro Gyra. He has been the keyboardist for Spyro Gyra since he was 16 years old (before the release of their first album). He has performed on all of Spyro Gyra's albums to date and has written or co-written over sixty Spyro Gyra compositions since the album '' Catching the Sun'' ( MCA, 1980). Tom also produced 6 solo albums on his own label http://jazzbridge.com. He also built and engineers his own recording studio https://schuboxstudios.com. Discography Solo * ''Extremities'' ( GRP, 1990) * ''Schuman Nature'' (JazzBridge, 2003) * ''Into Your Heart'' (JazzBridge, 2002) * ''Deep Chill'' (JazzBridge, 2006) * ''Reflections Over Time'' (JazzBridge, 2010) * ''Designated Planets'' (JazzBridge, 2013) * ''Live At Marians Jazzroom'' (JazzBridge, 2018) With Spyro Gyra * ''Spyro Gyra'' (Amherst Rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Beckenstein
Jay Barnet Beckenstein (born May 14, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, producer, and the co-founder of the band Spyro Gyra. He owned BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York. Music career Beckenstein was born in Long Island, New York, to a Jewish family. His mother, Lorraine, was an opera singer and his father, Leonard, loved jazz and introduced him to Charlie Parker and Lester Young when he was a baby. He started playing the piano at age five when he moved to Farmingdale, New York. He was given his first saxophone at the age of seven. In his senior year of high school, he and his family moved to Germany. He attended and graduated from Nurnberg American High School in 1969. He has said that being Jewish in Germany was positive at the time. However, he has recalled that he once saw an old photo of an elderly neighbor in his SS Nazi uniform while visiting him and he never went back. He received a college degree in music from the University at Buffalo in 1973. Trumpeter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julio Fernández (musician)
Barbaro Julio Fernández (born August 29, 1954) is a Cuban-American guitarist and composer best known as the current and longtime guitarist for the jazz-fusion band Spyro Gyra. Fernández was born in Havana, Cuba, but grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he started playing guitar at the age of nine. Fernández graduated from Hoboken High School in 1972 and attended Montclair State University as a music major. Before finding paid work as a musician, Fernández worked at various times as a clothing salesman, a messenger in a law firm, a newspaper delivery man and a labourer in a coat factory. In 1984, his friend Gerardo Velez, Fernández's collaborator on various projects and the percussionist for Spyro Gyra at that time, told him the band was looking for a new guitarist. Fernández auditioned and was hired the next day—an event he described as "one of the happiest days of my life." Except for a short hiatus at the end of that decade, Fernandez has continued in that position. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerardo Velez
Gerardo "Jerry" Velez (born August 15, 1947) is an American musician. Best known for performing with American psychedelic rock musician Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock Festival in August 1969, Velez is a veteran percussionist and drummer, who has performed with many artists covering a number of different genres of music. He is also a common member of jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. Life and career Velez began his musical career in The Bronx, New York. He notably joined Jimi Hendrix's band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows in July 1969, performed at the Woodstock Festival and at a small number of studio sessions, before Hendrix disbanded the group in favour of returning to the three-piece format of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band's performance at Woodstock was released on the live album ''Woodstock'' in 1994, followed by live album and video '' Live at Woodstock'' in 1999. For all Hendrix releases on which he appears, Velez was credited with the nickname Jerry. Since performing with Jimi Hendri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Quiñones
Marc Quiñones is a percussionist, a longtime player in salsa music, a former member of the Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band (1991–2014) and the Gregg Allman Band. He is of Puerto Rican ancestry. Born in The Bronx, New York, he began playing drums and congas at the age of three and was playing professionally at the age of nine.Doerschuk, Robert L. (2009)Marc Quiñones: The Other Allman Brother", ''DRUM!'', July 28, 2009, retrieved 2011-07-02 In his youth he played timbales with Latin music stars such as Tito Puente and co-founded a group named Los Rumberitos. At the age of 17 he joined the salsa music band of Rafael de Jesús.Álava, Silvio H. (2007) ''Spanish Harlem's Musical Legacy: 1930–1980'', Arcadia Publishing, , p. 83 Quiñones spent the next five years in salsa master Willie Colón's band, playing every percussion instrument at one time or another. His ability to sight-read music led to his becoming musical director of the band for the last two years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
