Spyro Gyra

Spyro Gyra(螺旋藻）是近20年来活跃于西方的一支重量级现代融合爵士乐队，这支乐队的名字有趣而较为难理解，据说乐队初创时原本想用Spirogira作自己的名字，这是一种藻类植物，却因为误写而将错就错。这支Fusion爵士的超级乐队1975年成立于纽约州的水牛城，创始者Jay Beckenstein是一位当地小有名气的萨克管手，他邀约了另一位键盘手Jeremy Wall在当时组成了这支毫无商业价值的乐队，并在次年发表了他们第一张同名专辑。1978年该乐队加入了吉他手Chet Catallo、贝斯手David Wolford与鼓手Eli Konikoff等乐手，实力大增，也让音乐更富有了变化，曲风中融入了许多拉丁音乐元素，因而当他们的第二张专辑Moring Dance推出后，便引起了轰动。
经历
1978年该乐队加入了吉他手Chet Catallo、贝斯手David Wolford与鼓手Eli Konikoff等乐手，实力大增，也让音乐更富有了变化，曲风中融入了许多拉丁音乐元素，因而当他们的第二张专辑Moring Dance推出后，便引起了轰动。由于音效超级，该碟更让当年的音响发烧友群起而抢之。接着，Cathing The Sun、Carnival在1980年发行，前者的乐风与封面设计如同前一张Moring Dance般洋溢着中南美洲的浪漫风情；而后者更邀请了许多客座乐手，尤以管乐阵容最为坚强，像Brecker brother就是参与演奏的最具知名度者。
到了1981年，Spyro Gyra的另一张着名的专辑Freetime问世，整张唱片节奏轻快，旋律优美动听，处处让人零售舒畅身心之感，被乐评家列为可以与Moring Dance相提并论的，90年代以前该乐队最好的两张专辑唱片。
1983年后，Spyro Gyra成员有所变动，原先的吉他手由Fernandez取代，而键盘手则易为Tom Schuman，并加入Dav Samuels司职打击乐器，此时的乐队风格更加拉丁化，同时混合了R&B、funk及巴西音乐的元素；同年他们的City Kids以及1985年的Break Out、1987年的StoriesWith Words等唱片都取得了很大的商业成绩。1989年他们发行的一张颇受好评的Point of View，更是音乐造诣大于商业利益，被评为年度最佳爵士专辑。
迈入90年代，Spyro Gyra离开了原来的唱片公司MCA，转入GRP唱片公司继续发展。加入GRP的第一张唱片Fast Forward表现平平，音乐走向趋于另类，让人似懂非懂，但录音及演奏技巧仍是一流的。进入21世纪后，Spyro Gyra开始在Head Up唱片公司旗下出版唱片，2001年他们推出的In Morden Times，曾经高居Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart的第二位。
by Scott Yanow & Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Founded in 1974 by altoist Jay Beckenstein, Spyro Gyra has 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 bands 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 groups 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 records success, Wall retired from live performance, leaving Schuman as the groups 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/marimba player Dave Samuels — who had played on several of the groups 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 groups signature sound intact.
In 1990, MCAs 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 2004s Deep End. A fourth Heads Up album, Good to Go-Go, was issued in 2007.