SPYRO GYRA

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An Evening with Spyro Gyra 

Grammy Award winning jazz fusion masters, Spyro Gyra is one well-oiled road machine. In its 50 years, the platinum and gold record winning band has performed on six continents and released 35 albums. Spyro Gyra rose from humble beginnings in Buffalo, N.Y., led by Brooklyn-born bandleader Jay Beckenstein, who started playing the saxophone at age 7 and majored in music performance. During summer breaks, he and an old high school friend, keyboardist Jeremy Wall (who was attending college in California), played gigs together back on Long Island. After both graduated, Jay stayed in Buffalo’s thriving music scene, and Jeremy eventually joined him. 

“Not many people know it, but Buffalo was like a mini-Chicago back then, with a smoking blues, soul, jazz, even rockabilly scene, of all things,” Jay said. “After being confined to classical music for so long, it was heaven. I was in the horn sections around town, backing some great vocalists.” 

Spyro Gyra was first known simply as Tuesday Night Jazz Jams, where Jay and Jeremy were joined by a rotating cast of characters – including a young keyboardist named Tom Schuman, who began sitting in when he was only 16. The group’s increasing popularity – combined with the purchase of a new sign for the club – prompted the owner to insist that Jay come up with a name for his band. 

“It began as a joke. I said ‘spirogyra,’ he misspelled it, and here we are,” Jay said. “In retrospect, it’s okay. In a way, it sounds like what we do. It sounds like motion and energy.” 

In their earliest days, Spyro Gyra took their cues from Weather Report and Return to Forever. Jay said he never thought in commercial terms, “just thought they were the next step in the evolution of jazz, and that we would be part of it.” 

The first few years saw the group as both a dynamic live act and a producer-centric recording process, borne out of the rotating cast of characters in its jazz jam beginnings. But in 1983, Jay made the decision to make albums the with the band members he shared the stage with night after night, only supplementing with occasional guests. 

There have been some personnel change over the years. Julio Fernández became the group’s guitarist in 1984 and, except for a short hiatus, has continued in that position. Scott Ambush became the band’s bass player in 1991. Lionel Cordew has been at the drum kit since 2016. And Chris Fischer took over the keys last year when Tom moved overseas. 

When Spyro Gyra first started, a lot of the jazz purists got on the band’s case about calling what it did jazz, said Jay. 

“Now it’s funny to hear us getting respect from the same people. Like, wow, what you guys did was so much more intriguing than some of the stuff they hear today… Art manifests itself in a multitude of styles and contexts,” he said. “Isn’t that why we started to play in the first place?” 

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​​​​​​​JULIA KEEFE QUARTET 

The Julia Keefe Quartet 

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“A songbird of a jazz vocalist” – The New York Times 

Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) is an internationally acclaimed Native American jazz vocalist, bandleader, actor, and educator. Julia grew up in Kamiah, Idaho, on her tribe’s reservation. After moving to Spokane, Wash., she began studying music and competing at the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in 2012, and taught jazz voice at Gonzaga University and was a guest clinician at North Idaho College and Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival before relocating to New York City. Julia earned her master’s degree in music from Manhattan School of Music in 2019. 

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A professional musician for almost two decades, Julia has headlined marquee events at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C; and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, as well as opening for the late, great Tony Bennett and four-time GRAMMY winner Esperanza Spalding. Julia’s primary passion is focused on legendary Coeur d’Alene jazz musician Mildred Bailey, leading the campaign for Bailey’s induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center. In addition to performing with her acclaimed quartet, she directs the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, and the Mildred Bailey Project will be releasing its first studio recording. 

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GREG ABATE TRIO 

Friday’s Feature Concert welcomes back the Greg Abate Trio, which played the first Jazz in June fest in 2019. The hard-driving bebop jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer plays festivals and clubs throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad, including most of Europe, the U.K., and Moscow and Georgia, Russia. 

Greg, who recorded his first album, “Live at Birdland NYC” in 1991 on the Candid Jazz Label, released his latest CD, “Magic Dance,” in 2021. He is an adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and a very active jazz clinician with co-sponsorship from the Conn-Selmer Instrument Co., conducting workshops and master classes through the U.S. and abroad. 

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MYLES KELLEY 

Keyboardist, composer and educator Myles Kelley, originally from nearby Appleton, completed his BA in Jazz Studies at the University of Maine last year. Now based in southern Maine, Myles teaches piano, electric bass, music production, jazz theory and composition at the Maine Academy of Modern Music in Portland. He also has a full performance slate as a solo artist, leader of the Myles Kelley Trio, and member of Midnight Breakfast and the Carrier Pigeons. 

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ROBIN LANE

Cellist, composer, producer and sound engineer Robin Lane began playing cello at a young age, reconnecting with his love of music in his 20s. After a stint at Midcoast Music Academy and opening his own teaching and recording studio in Rockland, he returned to formal study at the University of Southern Maine, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2024 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance with a concentration in composition. Robin performs classical, jazz, and contemporary works for public events, private events, and weddings throughout New England. Robin has been the cellist and sound engineer for The (stillness) Collective since 2018. He records, engineers, and produces his own music, along with that of a growing number of Maine musicians. 

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THE UMAINE AUGUSTA FACULTY JAZZ GROUP

Bassist Duane Edwards is based in Portland and has performed throughout New England, across the United States, and Canada -- notably at Lincoln Center. He studied jazz at the University of Maine at Augusta and completed his master’s degree in Jazz Studies at University of Southern Maine in 2020. Duane is the jazz bass professor at the University of Maine at Augusta; and Bowdoin and Colby colleges. He performs in a variety of groups with styles ranging from jazz to rock to Cuban.

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MIDCOAST MUSIC ACADEMY

JAZZ FACULTY ENSEMBLE

The Midcoast Music Academy Faculty Jazz Ensemble features world-class musicians from up and down the coast of Maine. They will be joined by guest performers from Flight of the Penguins, MCMA's student jazz ensemble. 

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DAVID CLARKE

The festival's second day begins with Java Jazz by guitarist David Clarke beginning 10 am at Zoot Coffee in downtown Camden.  Hosted by Zoot, come enjoy coffee or tea, breakfast, bakery items and more!

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