VINYL TAP
Spyro Gyra (Amherst Records)
Vinyl Tap, which was released Oct. 11, is the 31st album by jazz-pop supergroup Spyro Gyra, which has been around an amazing 45 years now since its founding in Buffalo in 1974. And while the group is no longer as focused on having the kind of edgy, experimental fusion style it had during its breakout years in the late 1970s, it remains a crowd-pleaser, as evidenced as the headliner of a jazz festival over in East Toledo’s International Park a couple of summers ago.
Vinyl Tap is an interesting concept that features nine mostly pop-rock and old school radio songs reinterpreted as jazz numbers, something which both hits upon the familiar for Baby Boomer mainstream listeners and offers challenges with new visions. Band members were asked to select pop songs from the vinyl era, and they came up with songs such as War’s “The Cisco Kid,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes,” Steve Winwood’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and Stephen Stills’ “Carry On.”
The arrangements are the most noteworthy part of this disc, with Spyro Gyra not wanting to simply do covers without putting the group’s own stamp on them. Like some other Spyro Gyra albums, the music’s great, and the solos are fine — yet the listener is left hoping for something that cuts loose and jams just a little more, or takes them deeper into uncharted territory.
The album works as a concept. The arrangements — while good — need just a little more punch. And the song selection is debatable. It’s a decent collection for mainstream tastes, just not serious jazz aficionados.
First Published October 24, 2019, 12:07 a.m.
