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| The Deep End |
| Spyro Gyra |
| első megjelenés éve: 2004 |
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| (2004)
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*Super Audio CD* |
| 4.701 Ft
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| 1. | Summer Fling
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| 2. | East Lake Shuffle
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| 3. | Monsoon
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| 4. | As You Wish
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| 5. | Soburg Jam
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| 6. | The Crossing
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| 7. | Wiggle Room
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| 8. | Wind Warriors
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| 9. | In Your Arms
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| 10. | Chippewa Street
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| 11. | Beyond The Rain
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Jazz
Recorded: 2004, Bear Tracks Studio, Suffern, New York
Billy Kilson - Drums
Cyro Baptista - Percussion
Daniel Sadownick - Percussion
Dave Samuels - Vibraphone
David Charles - Percussion
Don Harris - Trumpet
Jay Beckenstein - Executive Producer, Producer, Saxophone
Joel Rosenblatt - Drums
Julio Fernandez - Guitar, Producer, Vocals
Ludwig Afonso - Drums
Tom Schuman - Keyboards, Producer
There's some music that really gets inside of your head and makes you think. Whether it's solid songwriting, great arrangements or offbeat twists and turns, there's a lot of fun in dissecting the musicianship of the caliber that you'll find on Spyro Gyra's new album, The Deep End (HUCD 3085). But that's not the point, it's just a happy side effect. What saxophonist Jay Beckenstein really had in mind when making this album was diving into the deep end of the emotional spectrum. "I love music that makes me think," he explains, "but the music that lives forever does so because it lives in people's hearts."
That's what he wants people to get from listening to The Deep End, Spyro Gyra's third album on Heads Up International. The album is also available as an SACD in 5.1 Surround Sound (HUSA 9085).
"We really do put our hearts into the music we make," says Beckenstein, who founded the band 30 years ago. "I hope that you can hear the passion, regardless of the fact that the styles bounce all around, like on all of our records. When people come up to me and tell me how much our music means to them, well, first of all, I love hearing that. I know where that's coming from: it's from that deep end inside each of them. That's the place I want to keep going back to."
The eleven tracks on The Deep End embrace a broad range of styles and colors – and indeed, emotions – yet hold together cohesively. It's the kind of delicate balancing act that has made Spyro Gyra the contemporary jazz powerhouse that it's been for three decades. With over 10 million albums sold, the group continues to break new ground with this latest outing, the follow-up to Original Cinema, which spent most of 2003 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart. Their 2001 Heads Up debut, In Modern Times, logged 64 weeks on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart, peaking at #2.
The Deep End is marked by solid musicianship on all fronts – as usual – and songwriting contributions from numerous sources within the Spyro Gyra ranks: Beckenstein, guitarist/ vocalist Julio Fernandez, keyboardist Tom Schuman and bassist Scott Ambush. The Deep End also introduces the newest member of the band, Ludwig Afonso on drums on "Joburg Jam."
The drum chair opened up as departing member Joel Rosenblatt, also on The Deep End, decided to try something new. The bandmembers tried out over twenty excellent drummers in scheduled auditions. Afonso unfortunately heard about it too late to get a slot. That didn't deter him, though. He showed up, talked his way into getting a shot and wound up trumping everyone else.
Also joining them in this rock-solid ensemble is guest drummer Billy Kilson. Other musicians contributing to the album are vibraphonist Dave Samuels, trumpet player Don Harris and percussionists Cyro Baptista, David Charles and Daniel Sadownick. Jeremy Wall, a longtime collaborator with the band, contributes the opening track, "Summer Fling."
"‘Monsoon' is a tune that I love playing live," says Beckenstein. "We've played it live for a couple years and I wanted to have this band playing it on an album. I really like it because it's just a high-energy version of what, in my mind, the band is all about. I also like Scott's ‘Wiggle Room,' because it's kind of left of center. I always like presenting that side of the band that some people might not immediately associate with us."
But Beckenstein is quick to point out that there's a softer side to The Deep End. "There's a lot of beautiful material on the record too," he says. "One that comes to mind is Julio's tune, ‘The Crossing.' It's very passionate, very orchestral and atmospheric. You can hear that the guy's heart is totally in this song and that's why I love it."
More than just exploring matters of the heart, though, The Deep End sets up a satisfying balance of the old and the new by capturing Spyro Gyra's vintage sound as well as its more contemporary sensibilities. "There are a couple cuts on it that really strike me as being in the spirit of what we sounded like almost twenty years ago," says Beckenstein. "I think Jeremy's ‘Summer Fling' has that kind of spirit. Likewise with my tune, ‘As You Wish.' On the other hand, I think there are elements in it that sound totally consistent with what we're doing live today."
Rarely does a band weave so many layers of style and substance into a single recording. But then, Spyro Gyra is that rare musical collective that's not afraid to let go and take the plunge into The Deep End.
And isn't that what music is all about?
Let yourself go. It's okay. We'll be right here with you.
* Colin Anderson - Cover Image
* Doug Oberkircher - Engineer, Mixing
* Eric Carlinsky - Assistant Engineer, Engineer
* Jeremy Wall - Producer
* Paul Blakemore - Mastering
* Philip Brennan - Personal Manager
* Robert Hoffman - Design
* Scott Ambush - Bass, Producer
* Scott Hull - Mastering
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, All Music Guide
Spyro Gyra
Active Decades: '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: 1974 in Buffalo, NY
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Crossover Jazz, Fusion, Jazz-Pop, Smooth Jazz
Founded in 1974 by altoist Jay Beckenstein, Spyro Gyra have consistently been one of the commercially successfully pop-jazz groups of the past 20 years. Although originally a studio group, the band became a full-time venture in 1979 and has been touring ever since. Critics love to attack this band's lightweight and rarely changing music, which combines R&B and elements of pop and Caribbean music with jazz, but its live performances are often stimulating -- unlike many of its records, which emphasize the danceable melodies at the expense of improvising.
The roots of Spyro Gyra lay in Buffalo, NY, in the early '70s. Beckenstein and his longtime friend, keyboardist Jeremy Wall, had been leading a group with a revolving membership; every one of the many members in the band were loosely involved in the local jazz and rock scenes. Around 1974, the group was beginning to gel and cultivate a following. A club owner who wanted to advertise an upcoming appearance by the band asked Beckenstein for the group's name. The saxophonist told him "Spirogira," a word he learned in a college biology course. The owner misspelled the word as Spyro Gyra, and the band fell into place, featuring Beckenstein, Wall, electric guitarist Chet Catallo, bassist David Wolford, drummer Eli Konikoff, and percussionist Gerardo Velez. Not long afterward, the group added keyboardist Tom Schuman.
Spyro Gyra independently funded and recorded their debut album, releasing the record on the local independent label Amherst in 1976. The record slowly became a success and Amherst sold the rights to the band to Infinity Records, a division of MCA. Morning Dance, their first album for Infinity, was released in 1979. The record became a major hit, spawning a Top 40 single with "Morning Dance" and going platinum. In the wake of the record's success, Wall retired from live performance, leaving Schuman as the group's main keyboardist; Wall stayed with the band as an assistant producer and occasional composer.
Morning Dance firmly placed Spyro Gyra as one of the most popular artists in contemporary jazz, and throughout the '80s, their popularity continued growing. Their albums were consistent best-sellers, and their concerts often sold out. In 1983, vibraphonist and marimba player Dave Samuels -- who had played on several of the group's albums -- became a full-fledged member of the band. Over the course of the '80s, the membership of Spyro Gyra fluctuated, but Beckenstein and Schuman remained at its core, keeping the group's signature sound intact.
In 1990, MCA's jazz roster was absorbed by GRP, so Spyro Gyra switched labels, releasing Fast Forward, their first album for GRP, later that year. In 1993, Samuels left the touring band, but he continued to play in the studio. By the late '90s, the band featured Beckenstein, Schuman, Julio Fernandez, Joel Rosenblatt, and Scott Ambush, and released Got the Magic in 1999. Two years later the band moved to the Telarc-affiliated Heads Up label and released In Modern Times in 2001, followed by Original Cinema in 2003. Drummer Rosenblatt left the band and was replaced by Ludwig Afonso for 2004's Deep End. A fourth Heads Up album, Good to Go-Go, was issued in 2007. The holiday album A Night Before Christmas followed in 2008.
---Scott Yanow & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide |
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