★★★★★
The jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra has led a relatively drama-free existence for almost forty years--by which I mean they've survived band personnel changes, record label changes and flagging music sales without any big, splashy scandals. Recorded jazz music keeps trying to gain traction in America as big record labels with big expense accounts continue to go the way of the dinosaur, but the old Buffalo band just likes to keep busy...
- www.popmatters.com
2014-01-16
★★★★★
Track Listing: Serious Delivery; Wishful Thinking; Not Unlike That; Sorbet; I Know What
You Mingus; Off The Cuff; Clubhouse Jam; Odds Get Even; Who Knew! Personnel: Jay Beckenstein: saxophones; Tom Schuman: keyboards; Julio Fernandez:
guitars; Scott Ambush: bass; Lee Pearson: drums & percussion. Record Label: Self Produced Style: Contemporary/Smooth
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2013-11-07
★★★★★
Rick Braun, in October 2011 issue of JazzTimes magazine, admitted what those who are in the smooth jazz business end have known for a while, notably the demise of commercial radio and its commercial music business. He admits the good side of this is that, "there's no pressure on the artists to come up with radio-play hits anymore." With both of the above facts now in play, there has been a mad scramble going on among record companies and artists...
- www.jazzreview.com
2011-10-13
★★★★★
Spyro Gyra is a quintessential American jazz band that often gets lumped into the pop-jazz category thanks to two monster radio hits from more than 30 years ago: "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance." But while those songs helped band members buy houses and gain a worldwide audience, they don't speak to saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and company's insistence of jazz integrity over simple instrumental pop...
- jazztimes.com
2011-10-11
★★★★★
Spyro Gyra, with the release of A Foreign Affair, haven't done too much to dispel the notion that startling, inventive jazz is largely a thing of the past. In its own peculiar way, great jazz can elevate music to new, unthought heights. The inventiveness rightly associated with the historied genre accounts for major developments in all areas of pop music, and even the fusion jazz Spyro Gyra espoused in their early years has played its own part in that development...
- www.noripcord.com
2011-09-22
★★★★★
The first songs I heard from the jazz band Spyro Gyra contained an international flavor. Those two cuts, 1978's "The Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance," which dropped the next year, incorporated the sound of the Caribbean. "The Shaker Song" sported an Afro-Cuban sound, and "Morning Dance," with its steel drums, had a Calypso feel...
- www.soultracks.com
2011-09-05
★★★★★
Twenty albums in 20 years. That's what 20/20 represents. And proves, Spyro Gyra has both endurance and staying power. The band pioneered an upbeat musical fusion of contemporary jazz, rock, funk and international beats. Countless bands have copped their sound, but with Jay Beckenstein blowing saxes, Spyro Gyra stands apart from its imitators. Jay's bright yet soulful tone has a personality all its own. On 20/20 players groove through a breezy set featuring a fair amount of Latin flavorings...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Spyro Gyra is at it again, this time in surround: In Modern Times as reviewed here is an SACD, but is also available as a DVD-audio disc. As could be predicted, they chose to throw more than room ambience in the surrounds and the results are not unlike the Silverline discs, except the music is far more accomplished. (I can hear the new mantra for record producers all across the country: "OK, pan the rain chimes from front to rear...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
In 2000, saxophonist Jay Beckenstein released his first solo CD, Eye Contact (Windham Hill), a masterful work marrying his storied fusion background with his straightahead instincts. As leader of the prolific Spyro Gyra, he's overseen some moments of greatness and periods of unevenness as the band's sound grew tired in recent years, but, like Eye Contact, In Modern Times is a great album. The CD is a return to form for Spyro Gyra...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
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