Fusion All the Way

Jazz collective Spyro Gyra performs this year’s Jazz Christmas concert to benefit the Dunbar Center

Those who know Syracuse Jazz Fest executive director Frank Malfitano in his primary role as the master of ceremonies for the Salt City’s premier summer music festival might vividly recall the man’s drive. Without compromise, Malfitano consistently gets the job of organizing the Jazz Fest, regardless of each year’s difficulties with funding, let alone the complexities of programming such an enormous, annual showing of top national jazz musicians.

While Malfitano can, understandably, come across as a little gruff in the heat of battle, especially as his festival approaches, those who know him say he has a remarkably soft side, and that he often cites his genuine aspirations to help the local community as his primary motivation for doing what he does.

It should come as no surprise to those who have experienced that side of Malfitano, then, that the local legend would be boostering an upcoming concert to benefit the Dunbar Association, an organization that has assisted the local black community since the 1930s.

Malfitano, along with the center’s executive director, Sharon Jack-Williams, will bring jazz fusion greats Spyro Gyra to the Palace Theatre, 2384 James St., on Saturday, Dec. 18, at 8 p.m. for an event dubbed “Jazz Christmas.” The concert will benefit the association to assist black youths in the city by providing them with activities and programs designed as alternatives to community violence.

Malfitano has become particularly outraged by the increased number of gun-related crimes in the city. In fact, he attended and spoke out during a Nov. 12 gathering at the Mary Nelson Youth Center aimed at discussing youth violence. At the same time, Malfitano has been upset by the fact that the United Way has reportedly cut funding to the Dunbar Association as of this fall.

“I think it’s especially significant with what’s been going on with youth gun violence in the city,” Malfitano explains. “I think these youth programs that Dunbar has are more critical than ever, obviously. This would not be the time to be eliminating funding for saving lives in the inner city.”

Malfitano says the holiday concerts he’s helped organize for Dunbar for the past two years are a continuation of a benefit series that hasn’t happened in nearly 50 years. “I was involved with the Dunbar Center during the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. I got reconnected with them through Debbie Sydow through Onondaga Community College, who reintroduced me to Dunbar and introduced me to {Williams},” he notes.

“Sharon and I got together and talked and she said she wanted to do a concert and we kicked some artists around, and it was in the December time frame so I said, ‘Look I certainly respect Dunbar’s mission, and I certainly respect the fact that you’re doing this fundraiser to support youth programs for kids in the inner city. I would like to will ‘Jazz Christmas’ to you so you can make it your own, and I’ll be happy to assist you with it and help you program it and do whatever you need me to do.’” Spyro Gyro’s lead saxophonist and mastermind Jay Beckenstein, who spoke with The New Times via telephone on Dec. 9, agrees with Malfitano’s vision for supporting causes like the Dunbar’s, especially as it applies to the history of jazz. “Jazz is a gift to America from the African-American community,” Beckenstein remarked. “It’s one of America’s greatest cultural expressions and it’s certainly spread directly from the African-American experience in the 20th century. So it is a gift, and to give back, that’s just appropriate. It’s a magnificent expression that came from hardship and the world being biased against {black culture.}” Beckenstein also commented on the music the band will play for the Christmas gig, chuckling that no, the band doesn’t get tired of arranging Christmas music each year. “I’m an old jazz musician essentially. My heart is still very much attached to 1950s jazz. Pop culture has moved forward and beyond that with pop acts and hiphop and all this other music, but every Christmastime everybody goes back to the 1950s, just a little bit. We get to hear Perry Como in the mall!” Beckenstein, who laughingly noted that he loves Christmas music despite the fact that he’s Jewish, has much to be thankful for regarding the Christian holiday, especially given that his band’s 2008 album, A Night Before Christmas (Heads Up), was nominated for a 2009 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Regrettably for Beckenstein, that award was given to Jingle All the Way (Rounder), another Christmas album, penned by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

Regardless of the loss, Beckenstein said he’s generally happy with the band’s Grammy nods. “It’s kind of funny for us because I think there’s only been one artist who’s ever been nominated more without winning, and, you know, it’s not a complaint because basically being nominated means you’ve done something worthy. We’ve lost to people like Stevie Wonder. It’s great to have been nominated so many times. You get to go to the party and have fun.”

Beckenstein explained that the Christmas concerts the band has performed in recent years give Spyro Gyra a chance to explore the diverse styles for which they are known, a fact that very well may have counted against the band in its Grammy travails. “It prevents people from categorizing us easily. People just don’t know what the heck we are. We went through a couple years where we were really just beat into playing Latin music and Caribbean music. We’ve been nominated for Grammys for best rhythm’n’blues, best pop, best jazz, but most of all that speaks about us from a musician standpoint, because there’s nothing that the band members want to do that the band isn’t willing to try.”

Beckenstein spoke highly of Malfitano’s career, explained he is happy to be a part of a cause as worthy as the Dunbar’s, and went on to repeat a sentiment often echoed by musicians: that music is a uniting force when it comes to civil strife. “For a promoter from a town the size of Syracuse to kind of be known completely around the jazz world the way he is, it’s a credit to what {Malfitano} has brought to your town,” he said.

Tickets to Saturday’s concert are $25, $35 and $55. For more information, call 395-9869 or visit the Dunbar Association’s web site, www.dunbarassociation.org.