Spyro Gyra - Vinyl Tap (2019)

The band's first album release in six years, this thing is a covers album and I gotta be honest, my initial expectations were low because there wasn't any new material on the CD; I figured the band was simply picking low-hanging fruit. And now I gotta admit I am pleasantly surprised. It's not perfect, but it's hardly a disaster. Here's the skinny from band leader/saxophonist Jay Beckenstein:

It’s cliché (to record covers) in saxophone-based contemporary jazz. We did not want to sound like a fantastic wedding band. I was really afraid that if we didn’t do our own thing, that our identity would be lost. It was imperative in the creative process – and everybody (in the band) knew this in a big way – that things had to be mixed up. Things had to be jolted out of the old way of approaching the songs. We really tried to come up with a new take on whatever (song) we were doing. We put solos into tunes that really are complete extensions that never had anything to do with the originals.

For the most part, they come through. There's only one real stinker and copy couple of others than are just okay. But there's a few roses among the thorns and they mix it up nicely so it doesn't become another Smooth Sax Tribute to Steely Dan.

Aside from Christmas tunes, these aren't the first SG covers, off the top of my head I can name two: Sweet Baby James on 20/20, and The Beatles' In My Life on the (I Got No Kick Against) Modern Jazz compilation. There may be others I'm forgetting

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: TBD

Tracks:

1. Secret Agent Mash - a mash-up of Secret Agent Man (a #3 hit for Johnny Rivers in 1966) and Alfie's Theme (written by Burt Bacharach, recorded and released in 1966 by Sonny Rollins). They get the worst cut out of the way here with track 1. Atop a Gene Krupa drum beat, this tries to be a mash-two tunes and fail at both despite a tasty piano solo from Tom Schuman. At this point on my first play, I was dreading the rest of the album, but then came along...
2. Sunshine of Your Love - a #5 hit for Cream in 1968. Currently my favorite tune on the disc. This Latin flavored arrangement is more SG than Clapton and the salsa instrumentation brings the heat (pun intended). Sweet guitar solo from Julio Fernandez.
3. Can't Find My Way Home - written by Steve Winwood and released by Blind Faith on their self-titled 1969 album. The first single released from the album, this should get some airplay on your local smooth jazz station. A laid back folksy cover that, like the previous track, SG makes their own.
4. What A Fool Believes - a #1 hit for The Doobie Brothers in 1979. This is a medley of two arrangements of the tune. In the first, the band plays the song as a shuffle. Meh. However, when the band starts swinging at around 3½ minutes in, things get cooking.
5. The Cisco Kid - a #2 hit for War in 1973. The band messes around with some mixed meter here. Other than that, there's nothing particularly innovative, but how often do you get to hear a bass harmonica (courtesy of Gary Schreiner)?
6. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - released by The Beatles on their 1965 album, Help! Another great arrangement in which the band channels their late '70s Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. 
7. Tempted - a #49 hit for Squeeze in 1981. The band turns this blue-eyed soul tune into a bluesy waltz with a driving coda. I dig that brief ending and while I exactly can't decide if I like the waltz part of the arrangement or not, I'm certainly not skipping this great tune.
8. Stolen Moments - written by jazz saxophonist Oliver Nelson and released on his 1961 album, The Blues and the Abstract Truth. The band has fun with this modified blues tune. I've heard plenty of versions of this standard and this funky, syncopated cover is as good as any. Bassist Scott Ambush gets a nice turn.
9. Carry On - written by Stephen Stills and released by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 album, Déjà Vu. Not a wise choice - other than the ending, this tune just doesn't work well with this group. As close as the band gets to sounding like the "fantastic wedding band" mentioned above.

Missing from the disc: a funky Prince cover.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Released October 11, this CD hit my front porch last weekend and has since been in heavy rotation on my morning and evening commutes as well as in my modular workstation amidst the cubicle farm.

Previously revisited for the blog:

A Foreign Affair (2011)	Three Wishes (1992)
Down The Wire (2009)	Fast Forward (1990)
A Night Before Christmas (2008)	Point Of View (1989)
Good To Go-Go (2007)	Rites Of Summer (1988)
Wrapped In A Dream (2006)	Stories Without Words (1987)
The Deep End (2004)	Breakout (1986)
Original Cinema (2003)	Alternating Currents (1985)
The Very Best of Spyro Gyra (2002)	Access All Areas (1984)
In Modern Times (2001)	City Kids (1983)
Got The Magic (1999)	Incognito (1982)
Road Scholars (1998)	Freetime (1981)
20/20 (1997)	Carnaval (1980)
Heart Of The Night (1996)	Catching The Sun (1980)
Love & Other Obsessions (1995)	Morning Dance (1979)
Dreams Beyond Control (1993)	Spyro Gyra (1978)