Lyle Mays (Reis)

Lyle Mays | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 22, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00000FYHM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,151 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: MAYS,LYLE
Title: LYLE MAYS
Street Release Date: 12/22/1998
Domestic
Genre: JAZZ

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zawinul-tinged epic from Metheny's co-composer, May 26, 2001

By 

Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lyle Mays (Reis) (Audio CD)

Lyle Mays' place in jazz history is assured as the man who co-wrote many of the Pat Metheny Group's greatest songs. For some it is enough to have worked with a demi-god; others seek to become a superstar themselves.

This was Lyle Mays' first solo outing, and of the four I own, it is the only one of his CDs with the scale and the ambition that endeavours to push Lyle into the pantheon of jazz greats. It is also, in my view, his best.

Here Mays leads a band consisting of many modern jazz notables: former Weather Report drummer Alex Acuna, wondrous guitarist Bill Frisell, and Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. I've seen Lyle in concert with the PMG, and he seemed the focussed introvert, perfectly happy to sublimate his own urges for the sake of the group dynamic and its leader, Pat Metheny. He lacks the extraversion of say, Keith Jarrett or Thelonius Monk, and he looked as though he might be uncomfortable as band leader himself.

And yet this album really works. Mays is always at the forefront of the mix, and yet he elicits magnificent performances from his band, particularly Bill Frisell. Critics at the time said the album owed something to Weather Report: listen to track #2, 'Teiko', and then some of 1976's 'Black Market', and you'll get an idea of what they meant. But the comment shouldn't have been taken as a criticism.

Mays' error was in not keeping the band together. The album that followed, 'Sweet Dreams', is too much of a mish-mash, with too many changes of personnel, to present the coherent whole that his album provides.

I've owned this album in two formats -- LP and CD -- and fifteen years on, I believe that the greatest tracks are the ones where Mays has retreated on his own to the studio. So the Bill Evans-influenced 'Mirror of the Heart' and particularly the luscious 'Close to Home' get my vote.

Far more sensitive than Corea, less brash than Zawinul, and simply less weird than Jarrett's vocal outpourings, Lyle Mays is perhaps just too shy and too downright reliable to become recognised as the piano-and-synth great that he is. Jazz historians still largely ignore him -- it's their loss -- but it would be a shame if fifty years from now, people can only read about him in the chronicles of New Age music.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyle Mays: Accessible Artistry, January 13, 2000

By 

karl koopmann (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lyle Mays (Reis) (Audio CD)

It actually took a few months, but this album became my all-time favorite body of music works, hands down, and has been for five years now. For the Pat Metheny fan, it is essential to hear the "Lyle" compositional element on its own, and for the "new age" fan, this is a great example of a comparable style containing some actual depth rather than a lot of gratuitous swirly synthesizers in static major keys. The sidemen are top-notch (and in top form). Frisell, Johnson, Acuna... every note on the recording is an act of superb musicianship. Be prepared to give it some time and more than a couple of plays to sink in, though, if you're not used to this style of music, as well as your full attention; this album is brimming with delicate subtleties worthy of notice. Every track is incredible, but those I feel are particularly outstanding are "Slink", a straight-ahead jazz number with a seamless contrapuntal melody, "Alaskan Suite", a trilogy building from the serene to the dramatic, and "Close to Home", a moving synth/piano ballad. Mays' keyboard orchestrations are masterful throughout, especially if, like myself, you are partial to the older, organic, non-digital sounds. Most importantly, I consider this album to be a distinct and unique contribution to the genres of jazz, exotic, atmospheric and art music; it is welcome proof that "nice"-sounding music doesn't have to lack ingenuity or sophistication.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best in My Collection, July 24, 2002

By 

L. Tracy Baca (Breckenridge, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lyle Mays (Reis) (Audio CD)

I was first introduced to the influence of Lyle on "As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls." I was driving through a snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains, and I was blown away by the music's ability to transform a treacherous situation to one that became simply ethereal. I went out and bought "Lyle Mays" upon my return to the city, hoping to find more of the same music that would have a similar effect.
A professional DJ friend has commented more than once that my music collection (more than 600 CDs, more than 800 albums) is the most ecclectic he's ever seen (from Limp Biskit to Van Morrison, Coltrane to the Doors), but this is by far the most-listened-to piece of music I own (at least once a week). I'm not a musician, so I can't necessarily address the technical aspects of the music as can other reviewers. However, I'm not a chef either, but I can certainly identify what tastes good. And this is it.
Take it from a Native American ... this is the musical equivalent of peyote. It will transport you.