Post by erik on Feb 19, 2022 12:52:53 GMT -5
A great instrumental from 1979, a pre-cursor to the smooth jazz/new age format of the 1980's, is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
MORNING DANCE (Spyro Gyra; Infinity; 1979)—The groundwork for what would become known in the late 1980’s as “New Age” or “Smooth Jazz” was laid out fairly well during the 1970’s with a huge amount of instrumental hits whose sounds, though grounded either in rock or dico, also had their basis in jazz and classical music. One of those was a 1979 instrumental called “Morning Dance”. This was the product of the jazz-rock fusion group Spyro Gyra, which formed in Buffalo, New York in 1974. The song was written by the band’s principal saxophone player Jay Breckenstein, and released on the band’s second album, named for the song itself, on Infinity Records in June 1979. Although “Morning Dance” would be the band’s only real hit, it nevertheless did indeed become a big hit, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #24 on the Hot 100 in August 1979, where it also shared air time with another big instrumental hit, “Rise”, by Herb Alpert. The band’s albums, while they might not have sold enough to have much impact on the overall Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, nevertheless managed to sell enough to score high on the Jazz Album Chart. In the meantime, the band was nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Fusion Performance (1980’s Catching The Sun; 1982’s Incognito; 1983’s City Kids; 1984’s Access All Areas; 1985’s Alternating Currents); two for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (1985’s “Shakedown” ; 2008’s “Simple Pleasures”); four for Best Pop Instrumental Album (2007’s Wrapped In A Dream; 2008’s Good To A Go-Go; 2009’s A Night Before Christmas; 2010’s Down The Wire); and one for Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental (1982’s “Stripes”).
MORNING DANCE (Spyro Gyra; Infinity; 1979)—The groundwork for what would become known in the late 1980’s as “New Age” or “Smooth Jazz” was laid out fairly well during the 1970’s with a huge amount of instrumental hits whose sounds, though grounded either in rock or dico, also had their basis in jazz and classical music. One of those was a 1979 instrumental called “Morning Dance”. This was the product of the jazz-rock fusion group Spyro Gyra, which formed in Buffalo, New York in 1974. The song was written by the band’s principal saxophone player Jay Breckenstein, and released on the band’s second album, named for the song itself, on Infinity Records in June 1979. Although “Morning Dance” would be the band’s only real hit, it nevertheless did indeed become a big hit, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #24 on the Hot 100 in August 1979, where it also shared air time with another big instrumental hit, “Rise”, by Herb Alpert. The band’s albums, while they might not have sold enough to have much impact on the overall Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, nevertheless managed to sell enough to score high on the Jazz Album Chart. In the meantime, the band was nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Fusion Performance (1980’s Catching The Sun; 1982’s Incognito; 1983’s City Kids; 1984’s Access All Areas; 1985’s Alternating Currents); two for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (1985’s “Shakedown” ; 2008’s “Simple Pleasures”); four for Best Pop Instrumental Album (2007’s Wrapped In A Dream; 2008’s Good To A Go-Go; 2009’s A Night Before Christmas; 2010’s Down The Wire); and one for Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental (1982’s “Stripes”).