Jay Barnet Beckenstein (born May 14, 1951) is an American

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, composer, producer, and the co-founder of the band

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 ...

. He owned BearTracks Studios in

Suffern, New York Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, Suffern's population was 10,723.

Music career

Beckenstein was born in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York, to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. His mother, Lorraine, was an opera singer and his father, Leonard, loved

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and introduced him to

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

and

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

when he was a baby. He started playing the piano at age five when he moved to

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated Political subdivisions of New York#Village, village on Long Island within the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York. The population was ...

. 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 The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

in 1973. Trumpeter

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

once played with the college band while Beckenstein was a band member. They soon recruited 16-year-old keyboardist

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 ...

and recorded their debut album. However, due to lack of funds, the record was going to be their last album until they gave it away and sold 100,000 copies. From there, they got a deal and released their next album in 1979. In 2000, Beckenstein released his first solo album, ''Eye Contact'', which charted No. 23 on the

Top Contemporary Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

. Beckenstein played the saxophone solo on American

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

's " Another Day", from the album ''

Images and Words ''Images and Words'' is the second studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on July 7, 1992, through Atco Records. It is the first Dream Theater release to feature James LaBrie on vocals. Since its release, the alb ...

'', and single version of song "Through her Eyes", from the album '' Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory''. He also played a solo part in "Take Away My Pain" on the live album '' Once in a Livetime'' as well as "Another Day" during the performance of '' Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York''. Beckenstein is divorced and has three children.

Discography

Solo *2000: ''

Eye Contact Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. In humans, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from t ...

'' (

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

) With Bob James * 1981 ''All Around the Town'' * 1981 ''Sign of the Times'' * 1982 ''Hands Down'' With

* 1992 ''Images and Words'' * 1993 ''Live at the Marquee'' * 1998 ''Once in a LIVEtime'' * 2000 ''Through Her Eyes'' * 2001 ''Live Scenes from New York'' With

Jason Miles Jason Miles (born June 30, 1951) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. Throughout his career, he has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, bassist Marcus Miller, and singer Luther Vandross, as well as maintaining a successfu ...

* 1996 ''Mr. X'' * 2000 ''A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins'' * 2000 ''Celebrating the Music of Weather Report'' * 2002 ''Brazilian Nights'' * 2002 ''To Grover, With Love'' * 2006 ''What's Going On?'' With others * 1980 ''Orleans'', Orleans * 1989 ''Away from Home'',

David Broza David Simon Berwick Broza ( he, דויד ברוזה; born September 4, 1955) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. His music mixes modern pop with Spanish music. Biography David Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. His father was an Israeli–British bus ...

* 1990 ''Extremities'',

* 1991 ''Natural Selection'',

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 ...

* 1995 ''Basia on Broadway'',

Basia Barbara Stanisława Trzetrzelewska (Polish: , born 30 September 1954), better known as Basia, is a Polish singer-songwriter and recording artist noted for her Latin-inspired jazz-pop music. She began singing professionally in various Polish ban ...

* 1995 ''David Broza'', David Broza * 1997 ''Deep in the Night'', Rick Rhodes * 1999 ''Listen'',

Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – July 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist and a member of the groups Steps Ahead, Metro and Fourplay. Early years and education Loeb was born in Nyack, New York, near New York City. At a ...

* 1999 ''Somewhere in the Night'', Mercedes Hall * 2001 ''Butterfly'',

Special EFX Chieli Minucci (born April 17, 1958) is an American guitarist who co-founded the band Special EFX. Career His father, Ulpio Minucci, was a concert pianist and composer who wrote the music to the 1955 song " Domani." Chieli Minucci started Spec ...

* 2002 ''Urban Life'', The V.I.P. Club * 2003 ''In the Name of Love'',

Freddy Cole Lionel Frederick Cole (October 15, 1931 – June 27, 2020) was an American jazz singer and pianist whose recording career spanned almost 70 years. He was the brother of musicians Nat King Cole, Eddie Cole, and Ike Cole, father of Lionel Cole, a ...

* 2012 ''The Fusion Syndicate'', The Fusion Syndicate

References

External links

Official website
(archived)
Spyro Gyra official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beckenstein, Jay People from Long Island Living people 1951 births American jazz soprano saxophonists American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz alto saxophonists Jazz fusion saxophonists Jewish American musicians University at Buffalo alumni Jewish jazz musicians 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Spyro Gyra members 21st-century American Jews