Thirty-year anniversaries are for married couples and corporate employees - not musical groups.

But here it is 2004 and Spyro Gyra, which will be in concert tonight at the Valentine Theatre, is celebrating 30 years as one of the world's most respected and recognizable contemporary jazz bands.

Back in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1974, before the group even had its distinctive name, the musicians were meeting weekly for sizzling jazz jams.

Did anyone on that stage ponder the possibility that Spyro Gyra would still be performing 30 years down the road?

"Everybody who decides to be a musician is not thinking down the road," saxophonist Jay Beckenstein said wryly. "We were just young people trying to be musicians."

But the musicians, inspired by such jazz-fusion pioneers as Weather Report and Return to Forever, kept coming back for more, and before long Spyro Gyra became a national act and a leader of the contemporary jazz scene.

The band toured with jazz legend Miles Davis in 1980 and '81 and with the consistent leadership of Beckenstein on saxophones and Tom Schuman on keyboards, the group has recorded 26 albums and sold more than 10 million discs.

The rest of the current lineup features Julio Fernandez on guitar, Scott Ambush on bass, and the newest band member, Ludwig Alfonso on drums.

Alfonso was hired to replace Joel Rosenblatt, who decided to leave while the group was recording its latest disc, "The Deep End," for the Heads Up International label.

Beckenstein said the group auditioned more than 20 drummers before selecting Alfonso.

"The tough part was that there was an awful lot of people who wanted to play with us, so we spent a lot of time just out of fairness to give everyone a chance," Beckenstein said.

"Ludwig is 26 - he's a kid. He's got youthful energy," he said. "He's a little less flashy but absolutely rock solid and I think the band right now is a little bit groovier."

Five of the band members contributed original songs to "The Deep End," which means the jazz group's music is as diverse as ever.

"The multiplicity of composers both helps and, in some ways, doesn't help," said Beckenstein, who produced the disc. "Certainly, if it had been on any one composer's shoulder for 30 years, that would be a very sore shoulder. On the other hand, the fact that the creative input is rather democratically spread out makes for eclectic records."

He said Spyro Gyra doesn't try to build its albums around a particular theme, but just seeks to create good music.

"If you go back, the records bounce around stylistically," Beckenstein said. "There's R&B, Latin, whatever anybody in the band wants to do at the time. There's no album that we can say, 'Oh, that's our romantic album. That's our Latin one. That's our R&B one.'●"

As the album's producer, Beckenstein is responsible for bringing the diverse pieces together into an album that has Spyro Gyra's signature smooth-jazz sound.

"My solution, for better or for worse, is whatever sounds best, whatever's the most exciting thing," he said.

Excitement remains a constant for Spyro Gyra's concerts as well, according to Beckenstein. As with all true jazz groups, the musicians leave plenty of room for improvisation during their instrumental solos and also enjoy keeping the song selection and arrangements fluid and flexible.

"That's the whole idea," Beckenstein said. "It would be boring to us otherwise. Every single solo is different and we are all responsive to change."

Spyro Gyra will be in concert at 8 tonight in the Valentine Theatre, 400 North Superior St., with tickets $20, $32, and $42. Information: 419-242-2787.

Contact David Yonke at:

dyonke@theblade.com

or 419-724-6154.

First Published August 20, 2004, 2:58 p.m.