Full of Energy

It's hard to imagine today, but there was a time not very long ago when the phrase "jazz fusion" would have been met with uncomprehending stares among even the most avid music lovers.

Today, of course, fusion is a fairly well-defined, popular and nearly ubiquitous genre of jazz. And, for that, music lovers can thank Spyro Gyra, the oddly named group that has helped to pioneer the form since the 1970s.

Spyro Gyra returns to Las Vegas on Saturday for a concert at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater. The free concert is part of this year's edition of Jazz in the Park, sponsored by Clark County Parks and Recreation.

Jay Beckenstein, the group's co-founder and saxophonist, says Spyro Gyra has visited Las Vegas often.
"Vegas is a magnet for all forms of entertainment," he says, "and we've been lucky to have good friends in Vegas that have hired us through the years."

Spyro Gyra -- the name is a deliberately goofy take on, of all things, a type of algae -- was formed in 1974 in Buffalo, N.Y., which Beckenstein notes was home to a vibrant jazz scene during the '70s.

Beckenstein himself had discovered jazz as a child. "My dad loved it, so I was a little kid when I was turned on to it," he says. "And Dad had really great taste, so I was lucky. Six years old, and I was listening to Miles Davis. I really credit my father for opening my ears to all that great music."

Given Buffalo's eclectic jazz scene -- there was, for instance, "this great Italian bebop thing," Beckenstein recalls, and "a terrific scene on the black side of town" -- it was probably natural that Spyro Gyra would be built upon a foundation of jazz melded with rock, R&B and other contemporary influences.

But, Beckenstein notes, that's pretty much the dynamic upon which jazz traditionally has been built.

"Jazz through the '50s and '60s was a constantly moving thing, and that's what was really the great thing about it. It constantly changed, and there was a lot of growth, a lot of experimentation, that involves mixing stuff, whether it was Latin music and jazz with (Stan) Getz or Broadway musicals and jazz with (John) Coltrane playing "My Favorite Things.' "

"Jazz has always been able to incorporate other musical genres without it ceasing to be jazz," Beckenstein says. "And what we did and what people around us did in the late '70s and early '80s is much the same. We took that jazz base and started combining it with all this cool pop music and rhythm and blues music floating around at the time."

Today, jazz can be heard in commercials, on TV shows and in film scores. "It's really all over the place," Beckenstein says, and listeners can discover that "it's really an incredibly sophisticated musical form filled with interesting things."

At the same time, jazz is "very evocative music" that remains accessible to anybody, Beckenstein adds.

"People have all sorts of funny ideas about jazz, and one of them is that it's serious music that's not much fun, and that it's complicated and that it takes effort. People forget that a lot of the history of jazz is really about fun. Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, those are fun bands to listen to, and we're a fun band to listen to.

"I highly recommend, if anybody wants to check us out, go to YouTube and dial in Spyro Gyra, and you'll see a version of jazz that is not at all dull, not overly serious. It's got a lot of energy."

Spyro Gyra has released 31 albums, including last year's "Down the Wire," and the group has received 12 Grammy nominations. But, Beckenstein concedes, they haven't actually won one yet.

"On the other hand, if we manage one more nomination without winning, I think we become the most nominated act in the history of the academy without winning," he says, laughing. "A dubious but honorable distinction."

In fact, Beckenstein notes that Spyro Gyra has lost to a musically diverse roster of performers that includes the Beastie Boys and Peter Frampton.

"I mean, we've also lost to Pat Metheny and David Sanborn -- people you would expect and people who deserve it," he says, laughing again.

"But, yeah, I think it's up to 12 nominations without a win. That's a lot of tuxedo rentals, let me tell you."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.