Well said, Phil.
Dave added something that wasn't necessarily a major part of this group's identity. On those first few albums, he did not appear on every song. In fact, there were only a few albums - from Access All Areas to Rites of Summer - where he had a significant presence on the majority of songs. That's not to diminish his impact; just my way of showing that he wasn't always there.
What made the vibes and marimba significant to me was I just didn't hear those instruments much in contemporary music. At the time when I first heard Morning Dance, it was pretty much limited to a handful of songs by Starbuck (Moonlight Feels Right, etc.) and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. So when I heard Dave with Spyro Gyra, it moved me.
I did hear those instruments in other styles of music, and certainly classic jazz because of Lionel Hampton's numerous television appearances. But except for the examples above, they were and still are foreign in the popular music I hear(d).
On the other hand, as I got to listen to the rest of the Morning Dance album, Jay's sax blew me away, too, particularly a signature two-note, high-low that he blasted at the end of Heliopolis. And in the time between 1981 and '83, when this group became my favorite and I'd bought all their albums to date (Carnaval was the first I owned - acquired in a trade), his play on several others hooked me: Opus D'Opus, Leticia, Galadriel, Morning Dance, Rasul, Heliopopolis, Percolator, Awakening, Cashaca, Freetime, Old San Juan, Oasis, Incognito, Nightlife, Islands in the Sky, Silver Linings. All the others are good, but these are the songs that stood out.

Right back atcha Woody!

My first exposure to Spyro was rather late in the game (1992) and through my rock guitar-playing son who asked me one day if I ever heard of a group called "Spyro Gyra"? I thought it was another one of those crazy names for a rock band. However, since my son knew of my love of jazz, I accepted his suggestion and managed to listen to "Para Ti Latino" and "4MD" from their "Fast Forward" release on GRP. My initial thought was "Whoaa! Who is this?" I suddenly realized that perhaps I needed to have a closer look at this band. Needless to say, I have been hooked ever since.

Following that eye-opening experience and some time later, I found out they were playing the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA (only 100 miles away) and purchased tickets. "Live" they absolutely tore up the place with an overflow crowd that responded noisily to a great evening of music.

I have to credit this band with helping me expand my interest in other groups. It led to the Yellowjackets, the Ripps, and believe it or not, the Pat Metheny Group. The realization that I had been behind some sort of jazz or music eight-ball became evident.

And speaking of Dave Samuels, I began to examine his career and was rewarded by discovering that he had played a live concert date at Carnegie Hall in 1974 with Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, two of Jazzdom's giants. That concert "Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker at Carnegie Hall" is still available on CD and gives you an idea about Dave's ability to handle straight-ahead jazz. Two other players on that group's live date and recording were John Scofield, guitar and Bob James on piano. All these guys were in their jazz infancy, but accomplished musicians nonetheless. If you run across this release, it might be a good one to add to your collection.

Well....in my case Jay's voice (sax) and Tom's incredibly fast solos were the reason for me to get hooked with the band. It was 1980 and i was 8 years old and taking piano lessons from my mom....she insisted on "Chopin" and i was paying attention to Spyro Gyra!!!. Vibes were very familiar to me since one of my dad's favorite artist was Cal Tjader and also Tito Puente..who also played vibraphone....and waaay better than the timbales. Also Gato Barbieri was a huge influence for me as a listener and as a musician.....so...at first...Spyro Gyra covered all those spots for me....the latin stuff....the "funky stuff" and the only-they-know-how-to-do- it stuff....like "Pygmy Funk".

When Dave plays...he reminds me that latin jazz still lives...and his contribution to the band was great!! also, vibes and marimba are big and heavy instruments that not everybody can deal with, and he's got the upper hand in terms of exposition!! There's not another vibe player arround touring and/or winning grammys out there!!

So Like i said before....i do miss Dave...but i'm a piano player at heart and Tom is my hero and my main influence...and more since now i know him on a personal level!! now he's filling all the empty spots with his "wizardy"..."Schumanizing"!!!

That's funny, Phil. I have pretty diverse tastes in jazz, and thought I was doing well to keep up with my favorites. But around 2000 - partly because of information I got from you guys - I realized I had gotten into a rut. For several years, all I did was keep pace with The Rippingtons and Spyro Gyra, with occasional hits from Yellowjackets, Fattburger, David Benoit and Lee Ritenour. There was so much more out there that I wasn't getting because I didn't see anything that caught my attention in the record stores, and really hadn't heard any on radio at all for several years. One can hardly describe keeping pace with SG or the Ripps as a rut, but I felt like it was the case because there was so much other stuff out there that I knew nothing about. Like the above-mentioned Caribbean Jazz Project. I rejoined Columbia House (those introductory packages were so wonderful) and opened a virtual Pandora's Box.