As a result, then as today, the band’s music is acombination of jazz, soul, R&B, world music, the classics,Latin and soul. When the pair hooked up in Buffalo and formed what was to beSpyro Gyra, they knew they wanted an ensemble that would dare to bedifferent. Therelationship lay fallow until Beckenstein had finished studyingmusic at State University of New York in Buffalo and Wall hadgraduated from Cal Arts in Southern California. Of like minds, they played in bands togetheruntil Beckenstein moved to Germany in his senior year. The band, which will perform Sunday night at the Belly Up Tavernin Solana Beach, is the product of a teen friendship formed whenBeckenstein, an alto and tenor saxophonist, and pianist Jeremy Wallbonded in high school. “But when the name went up on the marquee, it read Spyro Gyra,so did the advertisements, and it stuck.” “So, as a joke, I came up with Spyrogyra, themisspelling of spirogyra, a kind of pond scum I had written aboutin a paper for a college biology class. “I really didn’t see any need to name the band because weweren’t going to last long,” said the 55-year-old Brooklyn-bornBeckenstein.
Moreover, whenthe band got around to making a self-produced recording,Beckenstein sold the albums out of his car trunk. The band had been considered nothing more than a jamband at a Buffalo, N.Y., night spot (Jack Daniels Club) until theowner insisted on a name for the fledgling group. Beckenstein had it all wrong, but at the time it seemed like agood call.