Jay Beckenstein

Alto (and sometimes soprano) saxophonist Jay Beckenstein founded the highly successful crossover jazz clothing Spyro Gyra in 1974 and led the group throughout greater than a quarter-century tenure. Beckenstein was raised inside a musical family members — his mom was an opera vocalist, his dad a jazz buff — and started playing the saxophone at age group seven, joining college rings and playing both jazz and R&B. After graduating senior high school, Beckenstein and his friend, keyboardist Jeremy Wall structure, shifted to Buffalo, where Beckenstein researched music at SUNY-Buffalo. Beckenstein and Wall structure started to headline their personal gigs around the town and that cooperation progressed into Spyro Gyra, which continued to an extended, prolific, and effective profession. In 2000, Beckenstein finally released his initial solo recording, a guest-studded affair entitled Eye Contact.