''Spyro Gyra'' is the debut album by the

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

group

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 Beckenste ...

, released in 1978. The album was self-released on the label Crosseyed Bear Productions before the band signed with Amherst Records and re-released it with a different cover. At ''Billboard'' magazine, the album reached No. 99 on the Top 200 Albums chart and also No. 99 in Canada. "Shaker Song" reached No. 16 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart, No. 90 on the Hot 100 singles chart, and was covered by

the Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer was an American vocal group founded in 1969 in New York City, performing music genres like a cappella, Brazilian jazz, Swing music, swing, vocalese, rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, and standards. They have won eleven G ...

on the album ''

Extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (proof theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values t ...

''. In Canada, "Shaker Song" made No. 99 in the Top 100 chart, and No. 26 in the AO chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Spyro Gyra * Jay Beckenstein – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion, arrangements * Jeremy Wall – acoustic piano,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog circuit, analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Minimoog, Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, a ...

ARP String Ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral string synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, percussion, arrangements * Jim Kurzdorfer – bass guitar * Tom Walsh – drums, percussion * Umbopha Emile Latimer –

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 ...

s, percussion Guest musicians *

Tom Schuman Thomas William Schuman (born January 31, 1958) is an American jazz pianist, smooth jazz keyboardist and was the longtime co-leader, composer and arrangement, arranger of 13 Grammy nominated contemporary jazz group, Spyro Gyra. He has been the k ...

– Minimoog (7), acoustic piano (8), Fender Rhodes (8) * Greg Millar – guitars (1, 2, 5, 7) * Freddy Rapillo – guitars (3, 4, 6, 8, 9) *

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 N ...

– congas (1, 5, 6) *

Dave Samuels David Alan Samuels (October 9, 1948 – April 22, 2019) was an American vibraphone and marimba player who spent many years with the contemporary jazz group Spyro Gyra. His recordings and live performances during that period also reflect his pr ...

–

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

(1, 4),

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

(1, 4) * Rick Bell – trombone (2) * Fred Marshall – trombone (6) * Anthony Gorruso – trumpet (6)

Production

* Jay Beckenstein – producer * Richard Calandra – producer * Jeremy Wall – assistant producer * Chuck Madden – recording engineer * Craig Bishop – mix engineer * Lawrence Swist – mix engineer * Jim Bonnefond – mix assistant * Rusty Payne – editing * Michael Cobb – cover design (1977 release) * Chris Maggo – album design (1978 release)

References

{{Authority control 1978 debut albums Spyro Gyra albums