Nov. 11, 1977 record review: Spyro Gyra's debut album

 

Hometown heroes make good. Really, really good.

Nov. 11, 1977

From the Clubs, Onto a Record 

          The city’s most successful jazz-rock group, Spyro Gyra, has issued their first album on their own Cross-Eyed Bear label and, for many followers, it should be a signal to catch them quick. They won’t be around town much longer. This quintet is going places.

          Part of the first pressing has gone to record companies and producers. It’s hoped that a major label will buy this debut and reissue it. As for Spyro Gyra, it’ll be their ticket to ride. They expect to be touring.

          The 10 all-instrumental compositions by saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and keyboardman Jeremy Wall form a concise and stunningly smooth portrait. Executed almost entirely at Mark Studios in Clarence with musicians that Beckenstein and co-producer Richard Calandra know, it disproves for once and for all the myth that nothing first-rate can be recorded here.

          There need be no apologies for it. The record measures up excellently in tandem with the leading jazz-rock releases of the day – artists like Steve Khan, Jan Hammer, Shakti with John McLaughlin. It never dips into the facile, commercialized licks of Stuff or the Section.

          Though Beckenstein and Wall have extensive classical training and have worked with UB’s Creative Associates, they’ve also had experience with R&B and funk bands. Both influences show, but Spyro Gyra never falls into the trap of over-intellectualizing. They play smart, to be sure, but they never forget they’re having fun.

          For anyone who has caught the group live, this record will seem like last spring’s Spyro Gyra. The ensuing months and the addition of drummer Ted Reinhardt from Rodan have made them a highly energized unit these days.

          The album is cool and swinging, from the opening Latin elegy of “Shaker Song” (a personal favorite), through the punch of former drummer Tom Walsh’s work in “Opus D’Opus,” the expanding balladry of “Mallet Ballet” as it floats on saxophone and electric piano, the biting sonorities of “Pygmy Funk” and the tropic exotica of “Leticia.” It’s easy to see why radio deejays have trouble deciding which cut to play.

          The touches of home are there too. Beckenstein’s “Paula/Paw Prints” are recollections of his lady and the cats around their Congress Street apartment. The additional sessionmen are hometown too. They read like a who’s who list from the Tralfamadore Café – Umbopha Emile Lattimer, David Samuels, Tom Schuman, Freddy Rapillo, Greg Millar.

          All in all, it’s a marvelous effort, full of fine musicians playing their best. Beckenstein says his only regret is that it took more than a year to put it out. The next one, he says, is going to be done in three weeks.

          Meanwhile, this one is available in local record stores or directly from the group at their gigs. Anyone who lives for good jazz or good times shouldn’t go another day without it.

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IN THE PHOTO: The original cover of Spyro Gyra’s debut album.

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FOOTNOTE: The label that paid attention to Spyro Gyra’s first release was a little one and it was right here at home. Lenny Silver’s Amherst Records picked it up and re-released it in 1978 with a new cover and a nationwide  distribution deal with MCA Records. It hit No. 90 on Billboard’s album chart and “Shaker Song” got to No. 16 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. Their big break-through came with their follow-up album, "Morning Dance," recorded in Buffalo, Rochester and New York City. It went gold and platinum and its title track reached No. 1 on Billboard's A/C singles list. 

The band relocated to the New York City area, has released 31 albums in all and is still touring. They appeared here in Buffalo at Asbury Hall last Saturday (April 8). Jay Beckenstein is the only one from the debut album that’s in the current band, although Tom Schuman, who became the group’s keyboard player, has been its co-leader, composer and arranger, and has appeared on all 31 of the albums and had been touring with the band until  February.