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 RB. 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, Rovi