* En anglais uniquement
Alto (and sometimes soprano) saxophonist
Jay Beckenstein founded the highly successful crossover jazz outfit
Spyro Gyra in 1974 and led the group throughout more than a quarter-century tenure.
Beckenstein grew up in a musical family -- his mother was an opera singer, his father a jazz buff -- and began playing the saxophone at age seven, joining school bands and playing both jazz and R&B. After graduating high school,
Beckenstein and his friend, keyboardist
Jeremy Wall, moved to Buffalo, where
Beckenstein studied music at SUNY-Buffalo.
Beckenstein and
Wall began to headline their own gigs around the city and that collaboration evolved into
Spyro Gyra, which went on to a long, prolific, and successful career. In 2000,
Beckenstein finally issued his very first solo album, a guest-studded affair titled
Eye Contact. ~ Steve Huey