Spyro Gyra in Cerritos

Spyro Gyra is an American jazz-fusion band formed in Buffalo in 1974 by saxophonist Jay Beckenstein. Its instrumental music draws on jazz, funk, R&B and pop, and the band is best known for “Morning Dance,” “Shaker Song” and albums including Morning Dance and Catching the Sun. Spyro Gyra performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1986, and that concert was later released on video. The live album Road Scholars documented performances recorded in 1997, while a 2013 appearance at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival showed the band carrying the same repertoire into a later touring era. The concert format centers on instrumental ensemble playing, led by Beckenstein’s saxophone and longtime member Tom Schuman’s keyboards, supported by guitar, bass, drums and percussion. Improvisation sits inside the composed melodies, keeping Jay Beckenstein and Tom Schuman at the center of the performance.

Chieli Minucci is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader from New York, best known as the co-founder and leader of the contemporary jazz group Special EFX. He formed the group with percussionist George Jinda, developing an instrumental sound centered on electric guitar, keyboards and percussion. His recorded work includes the Special EFX albums Global Village and Deep as the Night, as well as the solo albums Jewels and Night Grooves. Chieli Minucci has led Special EFX at the Berks Jazz Fest in lineups that included keyboardist Lao Tizer and bassist Jerry Brooks. He also took the group to Indonesia for the Java Jazz Festival.