JP/7/spyro/

JP/7/spyro/

Spyro Gyra and Acoustic Alchemy slated for Jakarta concert

By Paul Blair [10 pts ML]

JAKARTA (JP): Two top-selling musical groups -- Spyro Gyra
from the United States and Acoustic Alchemy from Britain -- will
follow up on the considerable popularity of their compact discs
and cassettes in Indonesia with a joint local appearance next
Tuesday evening.

The venue is the Studio 21 Concert Hall at Ratu Plaza, which
proved again last Tuesday evening (during a jazz concert by
guitarist Christian Escoude's quartet arranged by the French
Cultural Center) to be an ideal environment for musical
presentations in terms of sound quality, lighting, sight lines
and listener comfort.

Spyro Gyra's latest album, Dreams Beyond Control, is their
17th since the group was founded in Buffalo in the late 1960s.

The two longest-standing members are saxophonist Jay
Beckenstein and mallet instrument player Dave Samuels.
Beckenstein plays primarily soprano saxophone and functions as
leader.

Samuels, heard on both vibraphone and marimba, also records
under his own name for the GRP label.

His recent releases Del Sol and Conquistador are available
locally as well.

Other members coming to Jakarta are Julio Fernandez (guitar),
Tom Schuman (keyboards), Scott Ambush (bass) and Joel Rosenblatt
(drums).

It's Spyro Gyra's second local appearance. They were here for
two shows at the Jakarta Convention Center in late 1992.

Although Spyro Gyra's music is usually filed by retailers
under "jazz," it might more accurately be characterized as
instrumental music that often has a jazz-like tinge.

Newest release

On the group's newest release, the three tracks which come
closest to the looseness of jazz are a Latin romp entitled South
Beach that prominently features the sound of steel drums; a
Brazilian-flavored Bahia that demonstrates Samuels' fleetness on
vibes; and a Beckenstein original called Birks' Law apparently
written as a tribute to the late John Birks Gillespie and
featuring Beckenstein on tenor saxophone.

As with all Spyro Gyra collections, there are catchy
instrumental touches throughout: the rocking organ sound that
opens Walk that Walk, the rumbling baritone saxophone under the
ensemble on Breakfast at Igor's, guest Howard Levy's witty
harmonica playing on a couple of tracks and so on.

Dreams Beyond Control is also the first of the sextet's
albums to feature vocals; there are two by another guest,
Scottish-born singer Alex Ligertwood, who's best known for his
work with Santana.

Opening the Tuesday concert is the other group, Acoustic
Alchemy, a guitar duo whose members are Englishmen Nick Webb and
Greg Carmichael.

Their recordings are characterized by intriguing voicings that
blend the sounds of various nylon-string and steel-string
guitars.

Their Jakarta admirers will no doubt be intrigued to see how
Webb and Carmichael present material already familiar from seven
previous CD and cassette releases, since their recordings
generally feature the pair in the company of many other musicians
-- horn men, keyboard players and percussionists.

New Edge

The most recent Acoustic Alchemy package -- The New Edge -- is
a thorough delight in every respect, with none of the eleven
tracks really resembling any of the others.

The Notting Hill Two-Step, described in the liner notes as a
combination of ska, pop, lambada and country, features a quirky
piano solo by one of the duo's studio guests.

There's a prominent cello part on Oceans Apart, some soulful
dobro playing by Nashville whiz Jerry Douglas on Slow Ride Home,
an exotic flamenco feel to Santa Cafe and some accordion
seasoning sprinkled throughout Rive Gauche, which summons up the
feeling of an old Django Reinhardt session.

Two tracks on The New Edge include backing by a full
orchestra -- a pleasant contract to the sweetening with
electronics routinely employed in recording studios these days.

Synthesizer effects scattered throughout this or other
Acoustic Alchemy albums never sound like intrusions.

The Acoustic Alchemy collection released just before the
current one is entitled Back in the Case.

It, too, can be highly recommended, as can their first effort,
newly reissued under the title Early Alchemy. The New Edge,
though, is a marvel of diversity and great musical taste.

It will be interesting to see how Webb and Carmichael distill
these tunes in Tuesday's live performance.

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