Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits recently celebrated the release of their first album at New Yorks Joes Pub. In addition to Baptista, the ensemble features keyboardist Brian Marsella, bassist/oud player Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz and drummer Tim Keiper, most of whom are veterans of the percussionists Beat the Donkey project. For his first album with Banquet of the Spirits, Baptista also recruited the help of cellist Eric Friedlander, Gnawa vocalist Hassan Ben Jaffar and John Zorn, who served as the discs executive producer. During Banquet of the Spirits Joes Pub performance, Matisyahu also joined the ensemble for the first song of their set, ‘Bird Boy.’ Baptistas next gig will take place June 11 as part of New Yorks free Stuytown Music on the Oval Concert Series.