''Alternating Currents'' is the ninth album by jazz fusion group

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 ...

, released in 1985. At ''Billboard'' magazine, it reached No. 66 on the Top 200 Albums chart, No. 41 on the R&B Albums chart, and No. 3 on the Jazz Albums chart.

Track listing

# "Shakedown" (Jeremy Wall) – 4:22 # "Alternating Currents" (Jay Beckenstein) – 4:28 # "Taking the Plunge (for Jennifer)" (Beckenstein) – 4:48 # "Binky Dream No. 6" (Beckenstein, Fernández, Morales, Schuman, Stone, Velez) – 4:13 # "PG" (Beckenstein) – 4:15 # "Heartbeat" (Wall) – 4:48 # "Mardi Gras" (Dave Samuels) – 6:04 # "I Believe in You" (Tom Schuman) – 5:31 # "Sunflurry" (Schuman) – 5:01

Personnel

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, ...

– saxophones,

Lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent on ...

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 si ...

– keyboards * Julio Fernández – guitars * Kim Stone – bass guitar, double bass * Richie Morales – drums *

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 perfor ...

– percussion *

Dave Samuels David Alan Samuels (October 9, 1948 – April 22, 2019) was an American vibraphone and marimba player who spent many years with the contemporary jazz group Spyro Gyra. His recordings and live performances during that period also reflect his pr ...

–

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Production

* Jay Beckenstein – producer * Richard Calandra – producer *

Jeremy Wall Jeremy Wall is a musician, and along with Jay Beckenstein, 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 de ...

– co-producer * Larry Swist – engineer * Rick Begin – assistant engineer * John Penzotti – assistant engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering at

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

(New York City, New York). * Jeff Adamoff – art direction * Steele Works – design * William Coupon – band photography *

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

– courtesy front cover photography

References

{{Authority control 1985 albums Spyro Gyra albums MCA Records albums