Lyle Mays

Lyle Mays ( born November 27, 1953 in Wausaukee, Wisconsin) is an American jazz pianist. He became known through collaboration with Pat Metheny. He co-founded and still a member of the Pat Metheny Group.

Biography

Lyle Mays was born in 1953 in Wausakee in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the oldest of three children. Both parents used the music, the mother played the piano in the worship of the church community, the father played guitar by ear. Very early extreme talents in mathematics and musical field turned out at Lyle. His first piano teacher left the child with perfect pitch on the piano free hand for any exploration, without paying attention to disciplined exercise. With about ten years Lyle accompanied the congregational singing of the church on the organ. At the same time he helped the mathematics teachers in the school to the explanation in the classroom. Summer Music Camps brought him into contact with Rich Matteson, who inspired him to jazz. At 17, he went to North Texas State University, which is known for the broad space for sessions, she lets her students. There he became the pianist, keyboardist, arranger and composer. He drove all compositions at ( with the exception of a Chick Corea title ) and arrangements for Lab '75 album of the One O'Clock Lab band, which was nominated for the Grammy.

In 1975 he met after a few phone calls the guitarist Pat Metheny, with whom he founded in 1977 the Pat Metheny Group. This became the most successful jazz band of the 80s and 90s and is currently (2006 ) is still very popular, without ever having made ​​concessions to the zeitgeist.

Work

The Pat Metheny Group Lyle Mays works closely with Pat Metheny in composition and the arrangement of the songs together with its complex harmonies and the use of unusual meters account for the specific nature of the recordings.

Under his own name only a few albums have been created. Below are the two recordings Lyle Mays and Street Dreams, continue sonically and thematically to work with the Pat Metheny Group. The album " Fictionary " however, is a "classic" jazz trio recording with Marc Johnson on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano is the most ambitious album. It is an improvised piano music, with about the piano in addition electronic tone generator can be controlled. This technique can also be observed in the concerts of the Pat Metheny Group, Lyle Mays which converts the complex arrangements and soundscapes, sometimes just sitting at the piano.

Furthermore, he takes on music for children, such as English history Tale of Peter Rabbit, read by Meryl Streep.

Selected discography

Lyle Mays

  • Lyle Mays, Geffen, 1986
  • Street Dreams, Geffen, 1988
  • Fictionary, Geffen 1993
  • The Debussy Trio - In the Shadow of a Miracle, Sierra Classical, 1996
  • Solo, Warner Brothers 2000

Pat Metheny Group

  • Watercolors, 1977, ECM
  • Pat Metheny Group in 1978, ECM
  • American Garage, 1980, ECM
  • As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls, 1981, ECM
  • Offramp, 1982, ECM
  • Travels, 1983, ECM
  • First Circle, 1984, ECM
  • Still Life (Talking ), 1987, Geffen
  • Letter From Home, 1989, Geffen
  • The Road To You, 1993, Geffen
  • We Live Here, 1995, Geffen
  • Quartet, 1996, Geffen
  • Imaginary Day, 1997, WB
  • Speaking of Now, 2002, WB
  • The Way Up, 2005, Nonesuch
  • Jazz Pianist
  • American musician
  • Born in 1953
  • Man
Grammy Award Meter (music) Marc Johnson (musician) Integrated Authority File
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