Thought it might be fun to hear opinions on the many composers within Spryo. Unlike many bands where there is one principal composer (i.e. Rippingtons, Yellowjackets) Spyro has always had at least 4 different composers on each disc. I think this is one of the main reasons their music is always fresh and changing.

As far as my favorites/observations I've always looked forward to my first hearing of the two (and there are always two) Jeremy Wall songs on each new disc. What a great song writer. From the driving Hannibal's Boogie (with a great, and unusual drum track) to the raw energy (and strange time signiture!) of No Man's Land, to the beautiful, melodic ballad of Yosemite , his music has so many different styles. What a craftsman!

How about Tom Schuman? Here's a man who writes the gorgeous Innocent Soul and can also come up with the exploding beginning of Sunflurry!
Spyro has been blessed with some GREAT songwriters! (And I didn't even get to Jay!!!)


Any other thoughts on the song writing?

Steve

Great topic Steve!

The band's popularity is porbably indirectly due to it providing a fertile ground for its members to pursue their personal love of music.

I think of how this must be true for Dave Samuels and his deep love for Latin jazz that has been more fully realized since the forming of the Caribbean Jazz Project with Any Narell and Paquito D'Rivera. Where else could he have gotten the opportunity to write, arrange and express his love through the 80's? Think of the three or four solo releases he was able to do with GRP's and Jay Beckenstein's help. Dave may have gone to Berklee, studied under Gary Burton, and played briefly with jazz giant, Gerry Mulligan. But it was the years with SG that saw him really develop.

Steve and Phil,

Interesting thoughts on Dave Samuels. I remember reading an interview with Samuels a couple of years back, and he really went out of his way to credit Spyro Gyra (and his contact, even to this day, with the band members) with exposing him to such wide and diverse musical styles. He stated that Spyro was the only major goup that he knew of with so many consistently fine and diverse writers in it, and that he was "forced" to absorb many amny musics he never would have otherwise.

My favorite composer has always been Tom Schuman. His hard charging compositions were the single biggest reason I became enamored with the band. I grew up on hard charging rock bands such as Zeppelin and the Who, among others...so Spyro's hardcharging stuff, much of it written by Schu, built the most obvious bridge from rock to jazz for me.

Schuman also writes some gorgeous ballads.

I find that most of the Dave Samuels penned compositions are among my favorites.

With compositions such as "De La Luz", "South Beach" "Del Corazon", the unrecorded, but performed live, "Don't Go" and "Rockin' A Hard Place", Julio Fernandez in one of my favorite composers in the band.

Chet Catallo wrote some of my early Spyro faves..."Lovin' You" and "It doesn't Matter"

Thinking back, drummer Richie Morales wrote alot of hard charging things...off the top of my head, "The Archer", "Carolina" come to mind....there are a couple of others, too.

Which brings us to the man...Jay Beckenstein....his ear for, and ability to come up with consistently oustanding melodies is, to me, his most underappreciated quality. It is not an easy thing to write such consistently melodic stuff, as Jay has done for more than 20 years. He has many people who try to imitate his sound, but they can't get into his head where all those great melodies are created! All you're left with are some sax players with chops!

Peace!
Paul.

Great stuff Phil and Paul

Thanks for the info on the artists. Where do you find these things out? I've been listening to Spyro since high school ('80) and I never seem to see any articles on the band. Great stuff to know! Thanks for writing them.

Just to add to what you were both saying is Spyro's willingness to try different things. Two come to mind. First, they actually had a song with lyrics!! De La Luz quickly became one of my favorite Spyro songs not only because it's a great song but also because it was something different. And not just different just for the sake of being different. No, that was high quality! They are CAPABLE, due to the incredible talent within the group, of doing such diverse things. And the second thing that comes to mind is the ending of J Squared. It has a very classic jazz feel to it - one that I don't recall hearing from them. Once again it was soooo well done. And to think they've been doing this for over 20 years, with many band member changes. What a tribute to Jay's ability to lead a group without the group becoming solely focused on him. The mark of a great leader.

Steve