Legendary Jazz Group Spyro Gyra to Release “A Foreign Affair” on Sept. 13th, 2011

It’s a sign of how enduring this
band’s career is that, thirty-five years after their first album, their
four most recent albums were each nominated for a Grammy.

“One
of the benefits of being in this band is that our music is popular all
over the planet. Inevitably, we experience the local culture and
inevitably we absorb some of those influences, ” explains leader and
saxophonist Jay Beckenstein. “The guys and I were talking about what we
wanted to do with this record before we started. We decided to make it
all about that. We’ve actually been talking about making this record for
years.”

So, is A Foreign Affair, drawing liberally from the
music of the world, a world music album? Beckenstein says not really.
“It’s more Spyro Gyra being influenced by the world. We’re not trying to
emulate any musical style in its pure native form. We’re not trying to
play ‘perfect’ salsa or traditional Indian music, for instance.
Sometimes it means borrowing directly from another style, particularly
in the rhythms, but mainly we’re flavoring our music with these
influences.”

You can begin your journey with “Caribe” as it
takes you on a leisurely stroll set to a reggae beat. This opening gem
can already be added to the collection of Jay Beckenstein’s most
memorable melodies. This is followed by “Khuda” which announces itself
immediately as the most obvious departure on the record with its intro.
It’s probably the first time a Western group has released a song with
lyrics entirely in Hindi, the native language to about 200 million
people in the world. Beckenstein explains, “Tom Schuman had worked with
Sandeep Chowta, a Mumbai producer and composer, long distance over the
net and then I did some work for Sandeep. We were very impressed with
what he was doing, so when we decided to take the record in this
direction, Sandeep was a perfect gateway into Indian music for us. It
was a natural to ask Sandeep to contribute to A Foreign Affair.”

On
“Sweet Ole Thang, ” drummer Bonny Bonaparte takes you back to his
native Trinidad for a Calypso flavored, steel pan band party rave-up.
It’s ironic that with “Sweet Ole Thang” Bonny, being the band’s newest
member at five years, has delivered the song most reminiscent of the
Spyro Gyra “classic” sound. Beckenstein offers, “When I wrote ‘Morning
Dance’ and ‘Shaker Song, ‘ that influence came from music I heard on the
radio in New York. With Bonny, it’s right from the source. He was born
in Port of Spain, Trinidad.”

The next couple of songs are
showcases for Julio Fernandez, who describes his “Falling Walls” as
“world music funk.” It’s set apart from Spyro Gyra’s other high-energy
funk romps by its clever though subtle use of Middle Eastern scales.
This sets up Julio’s vocal rendition of “Chileno Boys, ” a song written
by Israeli star David Broza, adapted from a poem by Mexican American
author Alberto Rios. In a way, these songs capture the theme of A
Foreign Affair with the title “Falling Walls” segueing into a song whose
chorus proudly proclaims from its protagonists, “Not different from
you.”

Our itinerary takes us next to “Shinjuku, ” a famous
nightlife area of Tokyo, but this is not the Japan of temples and the
koto and shakuhachi. Beckenstein explains, “When you go to Shinjuku, the
contradiction is built right in. It’s very Japanese, but it’s also very
New York, very urban, a very happening place. It’s not surprising that
it would sound Japanese but also very familiar.”

“Samba For Two”
and “Cancao de Ninar, ” take us to Brazil, a familiar presence in Spyro
Gyra’s music. “Brazil is one of those places that has a thousand
flavors, ” Beckenstein says. “From my earliest days listening to Stan
Getz, I was deeply attracted to Brazilian music. It’s sexy and complex
and sophisticated and beautiful, like Brazil itself.”

“Antigua, ”
which sounds like it came from the island in the Caribbean, was
actually named after the city of the same name in the central highlands
of Guatemala. Jay named it after this Central American World Heritage
site due to a particularly memorable show the group once played there.

“Last
Call” is sung by Grammy winning blues great Keb Mo’. It’s a song that
at first may not seem to belong in the stated theme, but Beckenstein
insists it does. “The United States, the birthplace of jazz and the
blues, is part of the world. Our manager Phil Brennan had been working
with Danny O’Keefe, who co-wrote this really beautiful song, and he
suggested that we do it. Phil also suggested that we ask Keb’ Mo’ to
sing it. We had worked with Keb’ Mo’ when he was first starting out and
we’re big admirers. So when he said yes, we leapt at it.”

Our
trip then takes us to South Africa with “Dancing On Table Mountain”
named after the Cape Town landmark. “South Africa is a complicated place
but it’s a country with a great spirit. I think that Scott (Ambush)
captured that. It’s not particularly South African in style, but it is
in spirit, ” Beckenstein opines.

It’s notable that despite the
many twists and turns the musical styles do take on the album, it always
sounds like Spyro Gyra. “It’s always going to sound like our musical
voice, ” explains Beckenstein. “Whatever we do, we’re always going to
put our signature on it. It’s so rewarding as a musician to be able to
work with other musicians who can do so many things well.”