MusiConversations Show Archives

Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra  has a MusiConversation with Jazz Saxophonist and 30+ year Band Mate Jay Beckenstein

Tom and Jay Discuss:

1. Memories over the years creating 30 albums, thousands of concerts throughout the world and the working with many of the great jazz artists of our times 
2. Jays development as a premier Saxophonist in the modern Jazz music scene.
3. Jays creative process in creating music in the past and the flexibility of new recording techniques provided by technologies today.

 

DOWNLOAD SHOW Subscribe:

 

About Jay Beckenstein:

I was born May 14, 1951 in Brooklyn, NY and grew up surrounded by music.

My mother was an opera singer and my father's love of jazz introduced me to Charlie Parker and Lester Young before I could speak. I started piano at the age of five when my family moved to Farmingdale, LI. I was given my first saxophone through the music program in elementary school at age seven.

From there I took saxophone lessons, and played in school bands up to my senior year of high school. At that point I met Jeremy Wall and we started my first band. My senior year of high school was spent in Nurnberg, Germany where my father was working and I went to school on a U.S. Army Base. I played in R&B bands there that performed both for the Army and in German clubs. By then, I had been introduced to a lot of R&B and rock and started to mix those concepts together with my jazz base.

I returned to the States and enrolled at State University of New York at Buffalo. I studied a good deal of classical and avant garde music in the music program there and played in some interesting avant garde ensembles. I studied saxophone in school with Edward Yadzinski, but I also studied outside with John Sadola who worked on my jazz technique.

By my junior year in college, I had started working in the clubs in Buffalo and by the time I graduated I had steady work in the clubs. The next few years was spent playing in some great blues and R&B bands. Buffalo had a booming music scene at the time, but after awhile I wanted to do something other than be a sideman. I then started doing some off night instrumental sessions in small clubs with Jeremy Wall. This work slowly (over a year) evolved into the band Spyro Gyra. In the band's second year, Tom Schuman joined the band and started to share the keyboards with Jeremy. Tom has been the sole keyboardist since 1978.

Around 1976, I went into business with Rich Calandra, a local drummer who had aspirations to be a record producer. The two of us produced a number of local acts and, when there was studio time left over, we would record Spyro Gyra. The band's first album slowly came together in this way.

Rich and I met with little success with our efforts with other groups, so we pressed 500 LP's of Spyro Gyra on our own label with what little money we had left,. Within a year we had sold tens of thousands of records, signed a record deal and launched the band's career. In 1979, I moved to NYC to produce Morning Dance and lived there for four years. Catching the Sun, Carnaval and Freetime were also recorded during this time. My life was consumed with touring around the world, recording and writing.

Rich and I then purchased a turn-of-the-century stone farmhouse just outside of NYC and converted it into my own recording studio, BearTracks. This has provided Spyro Gyra with a great recording environment. Though I occasionally have recorded on records other than Spyro Gyra and have done other productions, (Dave Samuels and Tom Schuman), Spyro Gyra has been my main focus and has fulfilled most of my musical dreams. It has been over twenty-five years of great music, great friendship and great times.

The rest of my life is filled with my love for painting, gardening, hiking and all things outdoors but most of all with my daughters Claire, Alexandra and Isabel. They, more than anyone or anything else, have brought me inspiration and contentedness.                  

                     - Excerpts from http://www.SpyroGyra.com

MusiConversations^R and MuSyNetwork^R are registered trademarks of Music Syndicator Network, LLC

Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra  has a MusiConversation with Jazz Guitarist (and Keyboardist..) Peter White 

Tom and Peter Discuss:

1. Peter's experiences growing up in England; joining Al Stewart's band (as a Keyboardist), playing with others until establishing himself as one of the premier Guitarists in Jazz
2. Peter's various tours and projects
3. Tom and Peter listen to a few of Peter and Tom's songs on various CDs
• Playing Favorites 
• Promenade
• Deep Chill (Tom Schuman) 

 

DOWNLOAD SHOW Subscribe:

  

Peter White and Tom Schuman

About Peter White - by Peter White 

Growing up in the sleepy little English town of Letchworth Garden City in the 1960s, I first got interested in music while listening to the Beatles on the radio. My parents bought me an acoustic guitar when I was about 8 and I taught myself to play while simultaneously taking lessons on the recorder, piano and then later, clarinet. My music education was going along just fine until one day in 1967 I heard the Jimi Hendrix song “Purple Haze�. I had never heard sounds like that coming out of my acoustic guitar and I decided that from that day on, the electric guitar was to be the most important thing in my life. Now if only I could convince my parents to buy me one….
I eventually got my electric guitar and furiously studied the works of Hendrix, Clapton and Page, but my rock star dreams were soon put on hold when my beloved axe was burned in a fire (accidentally) set by my brother Danny. Distraught, I found solace in my old acoustic guitar which had been gathering dust in the corner. I had no idea that this incident, however tragic at the time, would prove to be a turning point in my life. I started to develop a love for the instrument, a feeling that continues to this day. Losing my electric guitar at that time proved to be a blessing - I soon found lots of inspiration in the music of Crosby Stills and Nash, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell who were all playing acoustic guitar based music. I started to carry that guitar with me everywhere I went- it became my best friend.

I knew by this time that music was my calling, and while all his friends went to college, I worked factory jobs until I landed my first musical engagement playing at an English holiday resort in the summer of 1974. After the summer was over I briefly joined a group by the name of “Principal Edwards’ Magic Theatre�, only to watch them disband a few weeks later. However, one of the members of that group recommended me to Al Stewart and I was asked to join Al’s band for a tour of England, Scotland and then the USA, starting in 1975. It was a very exciting time for me, being my first trip to America. We were opening up for artists like Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel and Queen. To be around these musical luminaries was a great thrill for a 20 year old! That summer saw my first studio experience at the famed Abbey Road studio in London, working with Al Stewart on the “Year of the Cat� album, soon to become a million seller. This was the beginning of a musical collaboration that was to last 20 years, during which time we wrote and recorded many songs together, including Al’s 1978 Top Ten hit “Time Passages�.

Along the way, brother Danny (remember the guitar burning incident?) had made his own way in the music business and made up for his pyromaniac ways by hiring me to work with a then unknown Polish singer- Basia. I played on her first album which was released in 1987 to much acclaim. It went on to sell millions worldwide and since then I have played on many tours and recordings with her. Thanks Danny!

In 1990, having been a backup musician for 15 years, and inspired by the English group “Acoustic Alchemy� I decided to start recording my own music and released my first CD “Reveillez-Vous�, a French title in honour of my French mother, Gilberte. It means “Wake Up�. Many other solo CDs followed, with several songs becoming No.1 hits on Smooth Jazz radio, such as “Midnight in Manhattan� a song I recorded with one of my idols, Grover Washington Jr. Basia also collaborated with me on "Just Another Day", a song from my "Caravan of Dreams" CD.

As well as recording my own music, I have performed on recordings by many of my friends, including Dave Koz, Gato Barbieri, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Craig Chaquico, Jeff Golub, Lee Ritenour, 3rd Force, The Rippingtons, Kirk Whalum, Boney James and Marc Antoine. I have been part of numerous “Guitars and Saxes� tours and also have established my annual “Peter White Christmas Tour�. This is a chance for me and some special guests to play some of our favorite Christmas melodies. (My Christmas CD “Songs of the Season� was released in 1997).

Over the years, I have become more comfortable as a performer. I feel a tremendous joy when I’m able to connect with my audience.  The purpose of being up there is not to show how clever I can be, but to simply invite everyone to have a good time. Meeting people after shows to sign CDs and chat is also something which I like to do, whenever possible.  It’s quite different from the days when I was just in the background getting little recognition!

For a complete discography, click on the CD icon at the top of this page. “Playing Favorites� is my latest and features a lot of classic songs from the 70s which I have remade in my own way. Special guest artists include Bob James, Jeffrey Osborne, Richard Elliot, Jonathan Butler and Boney James. Working with these great artists is a wonderful gift at this point in my career. My concert schedule is in the “tour� section and if you would like to join my fan club or mailing list, just click on the “contact� icon for those links. Just remember, I have always enjoyed playing for you!

                                          - Excerpts from PeterWhite.com 

MusiConversations^R and MuSyNetwork^R are registered trademarks of Music Syndicator Network, LLC