Catching The Sun (album)
''Catching the Sun'' is the third album by the American jazz group Spyro Gyra, released in 1980 on MCA Records. The album was given gold status by the RIAA on June 5, 1985. At ''Billboard'' magazine, ''Catching the Sun'' reached No. 19 on the Top 200 albums chart. The song "Catching the Sun" reached No. 15 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart and No. 68 on the Hot 100 singles chart. The song "Percolator" peaked at No. 48 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. In Canada, the album reached No. 80 in the Top 100 Album chart. Track listing and personnel # "Catching the Sun" (Jay Beckenstein) – 4:42 #* Jay Beckenstein – alto saxophone, Fender Rhodes #* Tom Schuman – Fender Rhodes, synthesizers #* Jeremy Wall – synthesizers, effects #* Hiram Bullock – acoustic and electric guitars #* Chet Catallo – electric guitar solos #* John Tropea – electric rhythm guitar #* Jim Kurzdorfer – bass guitar #* Eli Konikoff – drums #* Gerardo Velez – percussion #* Dave Samuel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenstein had learned about in college. History Early years Saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall formed a band with jazz and rock musicians who were playing in the Buffalo bar and club circuit. In 1974, when a bar owner asked for the band's name, Beckenstein said, "spirogyra", a type of algae he had learned about in school. The bar owner wrote the name incorrectly, "Spyro Gyra", but it stuck. The founding members of the band were Beckenstein, Wall, bassist Jim Kurzdorfer, drummer Tom Walsh, and keyboardist Tom Schuman. In 1977, they released '' Spyro Gyra'' independently before making a deal with Amherst Records, which re-released the album with a different cover. It included "Shaker Song," which reached No. 90 on Billboard ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gerardo Velez
Gerardo "Jerry" Velez (born August 15, 1947) is an American musician. Best known for performing with American psychedelic rock musician Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock Festival in August 1969, Velez is a veteran percussionist and drummer, who has performed with many artists covering a number of different genres of music. He is also a common member of jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. Life and career Velez began his musical career in The Bronx, New York. He joined Jimi Hendrix's band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows in July 1969. They performed at the Woodstock Festival and at a small number of studio sessions, before Hendrix disbanded the group in favour of returning to the three-piece format of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band's performance at Woodstock was released on the live album ''Woodstock'' in 1994, followed by the live album and video '' Live at Woodstock'' in 1999. For all Hendrix releases on which he appears, Velez was credited with the nickname Jerry. Since performing with Jimi Hendr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tom Malone (musician)
Tom "Bones" Malone (born June 16, 1947) is an American jazz musician, arranger, and producer. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone but he also plays saxophone, trumpet, tuba, flute, and bass guitar. He has been a member of the Blues Brothers, Saturday Night Live Band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and the CBS Orchestra, the house band for the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. Early life Malone was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Odie Malone, was a U.S. Navy pilot who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Malone graduated from North Texas State University with Lou Marini, who would also become a member of the Blues Brothers band. Both were members of the One O'Clock Lab Band at North Texas. Career He began playing professionally as lead trumpeter for Brenda Lee at a club in Jackson, Mississippi while enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi. In response to a call from Warren Covington, leader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, he began cont ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bob Malach
Bob Malach (born August 23, 1954) is an American jazz saxophonist. Malach learned several reed instruments in his youth, and played with Philadelphia soul bands such as The Stylistics and The O'Jays while still a teenager. He played in the big bands of Lin Biviano and Les Elgart in the mid-1970s, then moved to New York City in 1977, where he met Alphonse Mouzon. He recorded with Mouzon and went on tour with him in Europe, leading to eventual collaborations with European jazz artists including George Gruntz, Chris Hinze, Joachim Kuhn, Didier Lockwood, Palle Mikkelborg, Michel Petrucciani, Aldo Romano, Bo Stief, and Jasper Van't Hof. In the US, Malach played extensively both in jazz circles and with pop, rock, and soul musicians. He worked with Stanley Clarke in the 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s played with, among others, Madonna, Horace Silver, Bob Mintzer, Robben Ford, Stevie Wonder, Steve Miller, Joe Zawinul, Mike Stern, Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran, Leni Stern, and Dave ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Barry Rogers
Barron W. "Barry" Rogers (May 22, 1935 – April 18, 1991) was an American jazz and salsa trombonist. Career Born in The Bronx, he descended from Polish Jews and was raised in Spanish Harlem. His family (original name: Rogenstein) possessed a strong musicality. His father and several of his uncles sang in the choir of Joseph Rosenblatt, and his mother taught in Africa and Mexico, inspiring an interest in music from other nations. Mambo and jazz popular in his neighbourhood. As a student of the playing of jazz trombonists Jack Teagarden, Lawrence Brown, and J. C. Higginbotham, Rogers began to play Latin music in the mid-1950s and would be most associated with it from then on. He developed his style while working with Eddie Palmieri. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vibraphone
The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,'' or ''vibist''. The vibraphone resembles the Marimbaphone, steel marimba, which it superseded. One of the main differences between the vibraphone and other keyboard percussion instruments is that each bar suspends over a resonator tube containing a flat metal disc. These discs are attached together by a common axle and spin when the motor is turned on. This causes the instrument to produce its namesake tremolo or vibrato effect. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars produce a muted sound; when the pedal is down, the bars sustain for several seconds or until again muted with the pedal. The vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clavinet
The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and responding to a keystroke by striking a given point on a tensioned string, and was designed to resemble the Renaissance music, Renaissance-era clavichord. Although originally intended for home use, the Clavinet became popular on stage, and could be used to create electric guitar sounds on a keyboard. It is strongly associated with the musician Stevie Wonder, who used the instrument extensively, particularly on his 1972 hit "Superstition (song), Superstition", and was regularly featured in rock music, rock, funk and reggae music throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Modern digital keyboards can emulate the Clavinet sound, but there is also a grass-roots industry of repairers who continue to maintain the instrument. Description The Clavinet is an elec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steve Nathan
Steven Jay Nathan (born April 20, 1951) is an American keyboardist. He is known for his session work in Muscle Shoals and Nashville studios. Biography Nathan was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. In 1977, Nathan moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After touring with LeBlanc and Carr, he participated in the recording of Lenny LeBlanc’s first solo record. For the next 14 years, Steve played on records produced by Rick Hall at FAME Studios, often teaming with Roger Hawkins on drums and David Hood on bass. In 1991, Nathan moved to Nashville, where he became a member of the A-Team of session musicians. Awards In 2001, Nathan became a member of the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. In 2007, Nathan won The Academy of Country Music's Top Piano/Keyboards Player of the Year Award. Nathan was named "Keyboardist of the Year" by MusicRow Magazine for 13 consecutive years. Discography This section contains a partial list of albums Nathan has contributed to. 1978 – 1982 * 1978 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Will Lee (bassist)
Will Lee (born September 8, 1952) is an American bassist known for his work on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' as part of the CBS Orchestra and The World's Most Dangerous Band during Letterman’s tenure as host of NBC’s ''Late Night''. Lee has recorded and toured with many artists. He appeared on the Mark & Clark Band's hit record '' Worn Down Piano''. He performs with his Beatles tribute band, The Fab Faux, which he co-founded in 1998. Career Beginnings in music Lee was greatly influenced to pursue music because of his parents. His father, William Franklin Lee III, played piano, trumpet and the upright bass professionally. Lee's mother Lois sang with big bands. Lee took up drums after seeing the Beatles on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', and by the time he was 12 had formed his first band in Miami. The band members each earned $6 a night playing the popular surfing tunes characteristic of the ‘60s. With the great numbers of drummers in Miami, Lee shifted to bass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Randy Brecker
Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock music, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on November 27, 1945, in the Philadelphia suburb of Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, Cheltenham to a musical family. His father Bob (Bobby) was a lawyer who played jazz piano, and his mother Sylvia was a portrait artist. Randy described his father as "a semipro jazz pianist and trumpet fanatic. In school when I was eight, they only offered trumpet or clarinet. I chose trumpet from hearing Diz, Miles, Clifford, and Chet Baker at home. My brother (Michael Brecker) didn't want to play the same instrument as I did, so three years later he chose the clarinet!" Randy's father, Bob, was also a songwriter and singer who loved to listen to recordings of the great jazz trumpet players such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. He to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). Congas were originally used in Afro-Cuban music genres such as conga (hence their name) and rumba, where each drummer would play a single drum. Following numerous innovations in conga drumming and construction during the mid-20th century, as well as its internationalization, it became increasingly common for drummers to play two or three drums. Congas have become a popular instrument in many forms of Latin music such as son (when played by conjuntos), descarga, Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, songo, merengue and Latin rock. Although the exact origins of the conga drum are unknown, researchers agree that it was developed by Cuban people of African descent during the late 19th century or early 20th century. Its direct ancestors are thou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rubens Bassini
Rubens Bassini (January 26, 1933 in Rio de Janeiro – September 1985) was a Brazilian percussionist, who played bongos and congas above all. He played together with the band Os Ipanemas: Astor Silva; (trombone), Marinho (bass), Wilson das Neves (drums) and Neco (guitar). He also played with Judy Collins, João Gilberto, Sérgio Mendes, Chuck Mangione, Edu Lobo, Rosinha de Valenca, Dom Salvador, Carly Simon, Spyro Gyra, Lee Ritenour, Eumir Deodato and Dave Grusin, predominantly Bossa Nova. Discography *''Rubens Bassini E Os 11 Magnificos'' 1960 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil re- issued 2002 *''Rubens Bassini Y Los Latinos'' 1963 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil re -issued 2010 *''Rubens Bassini with Sérgio Mendes and Brasil'' '66, 77, 88 *''Deodato - Deodato 2'' - 1973 (CTI Records) *'' The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux'' - 1976 (Atlantic Records) As sideman With Herbie Mann *'' Brazil: Once Again'' (Atlantic, 1977) With Chuck Mangione *'' Main Squeeze'' ( A&M, 1976) With Jimmy Mc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |