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| Good to Go-Go |
| Spyro Gyra |
| első megjelenés éve: 2007 |
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| (2007)
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CD |
| 4.161 Ft
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| 1. | Simple Pleasures
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| 2. | Get Busy
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| 3. | Jam Up
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| 4. | The Left Bank
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| 5. | Funkyard Dog
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| 6. | Along for the Ride
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| 7. | Island Time
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| 8. | Wassup!
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| 9. | Easy Street
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| 10. | A Winter Tale
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| 11. | Good to Go-Go
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| 12. | Newroses
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Jazz
Andy Narell - Steel Pan
Christian Howes - Violin
Jay Beckenstein - Group Member, Saxophone
Julio Fernandez - Group Member, Guitar
Marc Quiñones - Conga
Scott Ambush - Bass, Group Member
Tom Schuman - Group Member, Keyboards
The entity known as Spyro Gyra is a marathon runner in the arena of contemporary jazz. For more than three decades, moving across a musical landscape marked by increasingly challenging terrain and accelerated change, they have maintained the well-deserved reputation as a viable and highly versatile creative force. Since their earliest recordings in the mid 1970s, they have maintained a fresh approach to their craft by borrowing from a range of sources and distilling them into an unmistakable signature sound.
This innovative and eclectic sensibility has earned the band nine GRAMMY nominations overall, and has fueled the sale of 11 million records – Including one platinum and two gold records. In the midst of the achievements and accolades, Spyro Gyra keeps moving, having logged over 5,000 high-energy performances in their prestigious and prolific career.
The band passes another milestone on this long-distance run with the elease of Good To Go-Go (HUCD 3127 and on SACD in 5.1 Surround Sound HUSA 9127) on Heads Up International. The album is the band's twenty-sixth of their overall career and their fourth release on Heads Up, following on the heels of the GRAMMY nominated 2006 release Wrapped in a Dream (Best Pop Instrumental Album).
A new face in the Spyro Gyra lineup belongs to drummer/percussionist Bonny B (short for Bonaparte). The Trinidad native had been touring with the band for several months before they went into the studio to record Good To Go-Go, and the energy he brought to the party served as the catalyst for some fine tuning in the group's overall philosophy. Bonny B joins saxophonist and Spyro Gyra founder Jay Beckenstein, keyboardist Tom Schuman, guitarist Julio Fernandez and bassist Scott Ambush in the five-man lineup.
"The fact that we had this new drummer with this great spirit about him prompted us to go in the direction of a more live-sounding, less produced record," says Beckenstein. "The band was just sounding so killer on the road that I wanted to capture some of that energy and reproduce it on the record. When you bring somebody new on board who's bringing some unexpected things with him, it shakes you up a little bit and puts you in new territory. It's been a process of discovery for all of us, and it's been a lot of fun."
That lighthearted sensibility makes its way into the album's 12 tracks. The bouncy midtempo, "Simple Pleasures," is tailor made for driving with the windows down on a warm summer evening, while the syncopated backbeat and subtle tonal shifts of uptempo "Get Busy" make for a challenging but fun melodic exercise.
Other highlights further into the set include "Funkyard Dog," a fast-paced romp wherein Bonny B sets up a tight groove yet allows plenty of room for Beckenstein and the rest of his bandmates to shine, and "Island Time," an energetic calypso track guaranteed to transport even the most urban-rooted listener directly to the islands. "A Winter Tale," although upbeat in tempo and overall tone, is a bit more introspective, with generous contributions from Schuman and Fernandez.
The title track, penned by Ambush, takes the album into the homestretch with a highly percussive drum/bass groove that sets up a large but well-grounded space for plenty of sax, keys and more. The closer, "Newroses" ratchets up the tempo and energy even higher, with all parties trading licks from more than six minutes all told. It's the ideal closing statement by a band that refuses to be anything but forward-thinking and forward-pushing.
"We've always had this belief that the thing we're doing in any given moment is the best we've ever done," says Beckenstein. "And we always want to maintain that philosophy, because that's what drives us forward. We haven't succumbed to the mentality of ‘Let's just play the hits and collect the check.' We never saw ourselves as a pop band. We've always seen ourselves as a forward thinking creative outfit. After 30 years, it still feels very interesting and exciting."
Regardless of what may lie ahead, Spyro Gyra is Good To Go-Go.
* Dave Love - Executive Producer
* Eric Carlinsky - Engineer
* Greg Calbi - Mastering
* Martin Walters - Mixing
* Michael Bishop - Mastering
* Paul Greco - Photography
* Robert Hoffman - Design
Thirty-one years and 27 albums in (not including compilations), urban contemporary jazz unit Spyro Gyra are playing with the funky inspiration and clever melodic and rhythmic invention that have made them synonymous with the genre, but that they haven't displayed on their own recordings for some time. This is not to say the quintet have ever been completely off their game. They know what they do, and do it extremely well -- they can make smooth and groove-oriented records all day long -- but the sheer edge and shifty, even knotty melodic ideas on "Good to Go-Go" feel adventurous in contrast to the records they've made since the beginning of the decade where they've fused smooth jazz to some Caribbean, Spanish, and other kinds of world music as well as written and recorded with pop vocalists. The adventure here is in the groove itself. First there is the opener, "Simple Pleasures," (composed by saxophonist Jay Beckenstein) with its bassline-driven funky core, followed by "Get Busy" written by keyboardist Tom Schuman. It is really busy but keeps its flow, melodically and rhythmically, never losing the central beat though its dynamics change radically and its lyric core on the heads is full of complex changes. "Jam Up" features the steel pans of Andy Narrell and drummer Bonny B.'s backdrop (and irritating dancehall) vocals, but cooks with a reggae-propelled foreground, ending up in Spanish flamenco territory in the melodies. "The Left Bank," (Beckenstein) and "Good to Go-Go" (by bassist Scott Ambush) are down and dirty and full of compelling harmonic smoke if not all-out fire. The former is a funk tune with a slippery backbeat and beautiful counterpoint, and the latter pushes with killer B-3 playing by Shuman, slapping bass by Ambush and Bonny B.'s popping rimshots playing nearly against the melody. The blues groove in the latter tune (especially with Beckenstein's and Julio Fernandez's swinging, sting-happy six-string break, which gets touched off by Ambush loping both into his bass solo) kicks the whole thing up into a rhythm and groove burner. "Island Time," is a carnival tune with solid jazz chops, and once again Narrell's steel pans get a beautiful workout inside a nearly ecstatic lyric keyboard and saxophone head. Of course the rhythmic assistance by Marc Quiñones doesn't hurt texturally either. "Newroses," by Beckenstein and Fernandez, takes the album out on an even more complex set of changes than it strutted in with. It's got gorgeous, almost pastoral sections that come in just after the most complex and twist-and-turn headlines bring in a melody that breaks from a relatively simple groove and then unwinds into something other. According to taste of course, but Good to Go-Go is the most satisfying release that Spyro Gyra have released on Heads Up, and is a recording that brings that jazz back in a big way into the "urban contemporary" and "smooth" subgenres.
---Thom Jurek, 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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