As I write this little blog, my headphones are plugged into my
favorite Pandora station, Spyro Gyra Radio. I've been a jazzophile
for the past 40 years. Don't know much about the history or the
artists or the mechanics of jazz, much to my musician son's disgust,
but I have always known what I liked... and I have always liked
Spyro Gyra.
Shortly after we were married in 1976, after countless hours researching Consumer Reports, we purchased a Pioneer rack system and a pair of Acoustic Research, AR 17 speakers. It was either that system or a reel to reel tape system and the budget simply wouldn't support that... thankfully. The reel to reel technology quickly followed the path of the 8 track tape systems, into the audio technology trash bin. I remember the first vinyl record I purchased was Boston by Boston and we rattled the windows as we wore the grooves off the disk.
An audiophile friend (with no budget constraints... God bless
those trust fund babies) had decided to convert his entire record
collection into the latest and greatest new technology... cassette
tapes. He was scrapping his records and I was more that pleased to
scoop them up. And thus my introduction to jazz began. I began
listening to amazing new music, music I had never experienced, certainly
nothing that was ever played on FM radio in Central Maine; Stanley
Turrentine, Michael Brecker, Gary Burton, Lionell Hampton, Pat
Metheney, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Grover Washington and, my favorite,
Spyro Gyra. I was captivated.
The music was a welcomed reprieve from the hectic daily life of a new house, a new job and a new family. Our newborn twin sons were weaned on these albums right along with me. I remember when we treated the boys to roller skating lessons when they were 4 or 5 (winters are long in Maine). The instructor asked them to which kind of music they would like to skate. Eric looked up thoughtfully and said, “Do you have any jazz?”
And when they chose band instruments in junior high, they both chose saxophones, joined jazz band, went on to attend jazz camp at the University of Maine and were ultimately selected for the State Jazz band. Ryan has maintained a lifelong passion for his music playing around Maine and New England whenever his busy career and family life allows. Eric took his sax with him to Australia and formed a jazz band at Melbourne University. Music was a big part of his life to the very end and I'm sure he will be blowing his horn at heaven's gate when it's my turn to follow. And when it was Katie's turn, she played sax, too.
On my 40th birthday, Connie planned to give me the ultimate birthday present. My loving wife had obtained front row seats to a Spyro Gyra concert! She arranged for her sisters to come down from Brewer to our home in Waterville to watch the kids and she was driving me to the concert so that I could relax from my stressful job and enjoy some birthday libations. It was a great ride an hour down the interstate to Portland and we arrived before the show started with a half hour to spare ... to an empty parking lot. She was perplexed and a little fearful as she asked the venue box office where the Spyro Gyra concert was to be held. The answer made her nauseous... Orono!... a 3 hour drive north.
It was a sweet mistake. There was no malice in it... only love. As the busy mother of three kids, running our big house and all their activities, and trying to support her overworked husband, she has missed one small, but significant detail. It took awhile for us to get our sense of humor back. I remember the crack in the gloom. Connie was crying and going on about how we needed to go to the airport and rent a plane or some such thing. “I am going to stop this car and lay in the road and you are going to drive over me!” she wailed. I knew I had to soften the mood.
“Honey, honey, stop. That's enough. No more beating yourself up, please. Let's get this thing in perspective. Nothing terrible has happened. Yes, Spyro Gyra is my favorite group and, no doubt, it would have been a fantastic concert. But it would have been a sweet but short lived enjoyment. What you have given me is so much more lasting... a story I can tell and we can laugh about for the rest of our lives!
And we have...but someday... Spyro Gyra is definitely on the bucket list.
Shortly after we were married in 1976, after countless hours researching Consumer Reports, we purchased a Pioneer rack system and a pair of Acoustic Research, AR 17 speakers. It was either that system or a reel to reel tape system and the budget simply wouldn't support that... thankfully. The reel to reel technology quickly followed the path of the 8 track tape systems, into the audio technology trash bin. I remember the first vinyl record I purchased was Boston by Boston and we rattled the windows as we wore the grooves off the disk.
The music was a welcomed reprieve from the hectic daily life of a new house, a new job and a new family. Our newborn twin sons were weaned on these albums right along with me. I remember when we treated the boys to roller skating lessons when they were 4 or 5 (winters are long in Maine). The instructor asked them to which kind of music they would like to skate. Eric looked up thoughtfully and said, “Do you have any jazz?”
And when they chose band instruments in junior high, they both chose saxophones, joined jazz band, went on to attend jazz camp at the University of Maine and were ultimately selected for the State Jazz band. Ryan has maintained a lifelong passion for his music playing around Maine and New England whenever his busy career and family life allows. Eric took his sax with him to Australia and formed a jazz band at Melbourne University. Music was a big part of his life to the very end and I'm sure he will be blowing his horn at heaven's gate when it's my turn to follow. And when it was Katie's turn, she played sax, too.
On my 40th birthday, Connie planned to give me the ultimate birthday present. My loving wife had obtained front row seats to a Spyro Gyra concert! She arranged for her sisters to come down from Brewer to our home in Waterville to watch the kids and she was driving me to the concert so that I could relax from my stressful job and enjoy some birthday libations. It was a great ride an hour down the interstate to Portland and we arrived before the show started with a half hour to spare ... to an empty parking lot. She was perplexed and a little fearful as she asked the venue box office where the Spyro Gyra concert was to be held. The answer made her nauseous... Orono!... a 3 hour drive north.
It was a sweet mistake. There was no malice in it... only love. As the busy mother of three kids, running our big house and all their activities, and trying to support her overworked husband, she has missed one small, but significant detail. It took awhile for us to get our sense of humor back. I remember the crack in the gloom. Connie was crying and going on about how we needed to go to the airport and rent a plane or some such thing. “I am going to stop this car and lay in the road and you are going to drive over me!” she wailed. I knew I had to soften the mood.
“Honey, honey, stop. That's enough. No more beating yourself up, please. Let's get this thing in perspective. Nothing terrible has happened. Yes, Spyro Gyra is my favorite group and, no doubt, it would have been a fantastic concert. But it would have been a sweet but short lived enjoyment. What you have given me is so much more lasting... a story I can tell and we can laugh about for the rest of our lives!
And we have...but someday... Spyro Gyra is definitely on the bucket list.
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