I just got home from Pittsburgh where I saw Spyro Gyra. of course, they never disappoint me. that's why I've seen them 21 times now.
any ways, it was a great concert. it was their holiday music. one thing I enjoyed is when the person that arranged the song they were going to play spoke for a minute or two about why they chose the particular song.
it's been 3 years since I've seen them, and this is the first I've had the privilege of seeing Bonnie B perform. all of the posts about his antics are true. he's a real character in a funny, entertaining way. I didn't get the opportunity to confirm if he intended this, but when it was his turn to speak, he seemed to have gone into the character of "animal" from the muppet show; he just went wild and crazy for about 10 seconds. but I quickly realized why he was chosen to be their next drummer. I personally loved Joel Rosenblatt's solos, but Bonnie keeps up with him. Ludwig Afonzo was a great drummer, but didn't seem to have the solo part down quite yet....at least in the manor Spyro Gyra drummers seem to do. I also got a kick out of his antics cracking up Tom on stage. there were several times where Tom couldn't help but laugh out loud.
they also had a guest female vocalist. all I can remember is that her first name is Maureen (sorry if I misspelled her name). but she did a great job. she sang "baby, it's cold outside" and i forget what the other vocal is on the album, but they did those 2.
not being a religious person, it was still a worthwhile concert to see. I'm not crazy about Christmas music, but when smooth jazz artists perform it, this makes it slightly more tolerable to the point of enjoyment.