LYLE MAYS — Lyle Mays (1986) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lyle Mays waited a long, long time before straying from the Pat Metheny Group to issue his first solo album, but when he did, the results were at once removed but not totally untethered to the Metheny sound and feeling. On his own, Mays' synthesizer solos and textures are close in sound to what he was doing in the Metheny group, but the turns of phrases in his acoustic piano solos reflect the heavy shadow of Keith Jarrett. "Highland Aire" naturally has a buoyant, wistful Scottish flavor; "Teiko" begins with a wash of synths and then offers a mechanical rhythm that is vaguely Asian in feeling; and "Slink" is the closest the album comes to the floating Metheny groove. Although the 14-minute "Alaskan Suite" forms the centerpiece of the LP's side two, the entire side could be considered a suite as a whole, with a ruminative piano solo "Mirror of the Heart" preceding "Alaskan Suite," and "Close to Home" reprising the twinkling, burbling shafts of synthesizer of "Alaskan Suite"'s opening. Bill Frisell gives Mays a different yet no less musical and enterprising guitar foil; drummer Alex Acuna and Metheny group percussionist Nana Vasconcelos are as flexible a team as Mays could want. Marc Johnson is on bass and Billy Drewes is on alto and soprano sax. A very pleasing, thoroughly musical solo debut. Richard S. Ginell  
Tracklist  
1 Highland Aire  7:02
Bagpipes [Uilleann] – Patrick Sky
2 Teiko 7:21
3 Slink 8:17
4 Mirror Of The Heart 4:58
Alaskan Suite (14:12)
5 Northern Lights
6 Invocation
7 Ascent
8 Close To Home 6:10
Credits
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Billy Drewes
Composed By, Piano, Synthesizer, Autoharp, Producer – Lyle Mays
Double Bass – Marc Johnson
Drums – Alejandro N, Acuña
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Percussion – Naná Vasconcelos

PAT METHENY GROUP — Pat Metheny Group (1978) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The first recording by the Pat Metheny Group features the innovative guitarist along with keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Dan Gottlieb. The music is quite distinctive, floating rather than swinging, electric but not rockish, and full of folkish melodies. The best known of these six Metheny-Mays originals are "Phase Dance" and "Jaco." This music grows in interest with each listen. Scott Yanow

Tracklist:

1. San Lorenzo (10:16)

2. Phase Dance (8:25)

3. Jaco (5:40)

4. Aprilwind (2:09)

5. April Joy (8:15)

6. Lone Jack (6:43)

Credits:

    Pat Metheny - 6 and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars

    Lyle Mays - piano, Oberheim synthesizer, autoharp

    Mark Egan - fretless electric bass

    Danny Gottlieb - drums 

PAT METHENY GROUP — Travels (1983) 2CD | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Now well into its gliding Brazilian-tinged mode, the Pat Metheny Group hits the road, as this two-CD set catches the band live in Dallas, Philadelphia, Hartford, Sacramento, and Nacogdoches, TX. Percussionist Naná Vasconcelos is still listed as a "special guest," but ever since Wichita Falls, he had not only been a part of the group, he was the transforming element in the Metheny "sound," adding his various shakers, effects and ethereal vocals. Sidekick Lyle Mays gets deeper into floating, glistening synthesizer textures, but he is still able to take formidable and touching solos on acoustic grand piano. Still experimenting with new hardware, Metheny's work on a detuned guitar synthesizer gives the live "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls" an exotic Balinese-like sound. Other highlights are the hard Brazilian grooves on "Straight On Red" and "Song for Bilbao," as well as the trademark Metheny glide of "Are You Going With Me?" -- and the brief title track has a winning, guileless simplicity much like that of Keith Jarrett in a prayerful mood. If you liked the popular Offramp, you'll fall for Travels, too, but get the former album first. Richard S. Ginell

Tracklist 1:

1. Are You Going With Me? (9:18)

2. The Fields, The Sky (7:46)

3. Goodbye (8:16)

4. Phase Dance (8:03)

5. Straight On Red (7:26)

6. Farmer's Trust (6:25)

Tracklist 2:

1. Extradition (5:44)

2. Goin' Ahead - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (16:22)

3. Travels (5:03)

4. Song For Bilbao (8:26)

5. San Lorenzo (13:35)

Musicians

Pat Metheny - Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Guitar synthesizer

Lyle Mays - Piano, synthesizers, Electric Organ, Autoharp, Synclavier

Steve Rodby - Acoustic and Electric Bass, Bass synthesizer

Dan Gottlieb - Drums

Naná Vasconcelos - Percussion, Voice, Berimbau

PAT METHENY — Watercolors (1977) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Pat Metheny emerges on his second album, Watercolors, as an ECM impressionist, generally conforming to the label's overall sound while still asserting his own personality. As the title suggests, there are several mood pieces here that are suspended in the air without rhythmic underpinning, a harbinger for the new age invasion still in the future. Metheny's softly focused, asymmetrical guitar style, with echoes of apparent influences as disparate as Jim Hall, George Benson, Jerry Garcia, and various country guitarists, is quite distinctive even at this early juncture. Metheny's long-running partnership with keyboardist Lyle Mays also begins here, with Mays mostly on acoustic piano but also providing a few mild synthesizer washes. Danny Gottlieb is on drums, and ECM regular Eberhard Weber handles the bass. This is essentially the first album by the Pat Metheny Group per se, although the band had yet to find its direction in this somewhat diffuse showing. Richard S. Ginell

Tracklist :

1 - Watercolors

2 - Icefire

3 - Oasis

4 - Lakes

5 - River Quay

6 - Suite: I. Florida Greeting Song

7 - Suite: II. Legend Of The Fountain

8 - Sea Song

Credits:

Pat Metheny - guitar, 12-string guitar, 15-string harpguitar

Lyle Mays - piano

Eberhard Weber - bass

Dan Gottlieb - drums

EBERHARD WEBER - Later That Evening (1982) APE (image+.cue), lossless

This is one of bassist Eberhard Weber's more stimulating ECM releases, due in part to his colorful sidemen: guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Lyle Mays (in a rare vacation from Pat Metheny), Paul McCandless (switching between soprano, oboe, English horn and bass clarinet) and drummer Michael DiPasqua. The quintet plays four of Weber's originals (including the 16½-minute "Death in the Car Wash") and, although the music is sometimes introspective and full of space, Frisell largely keeps the proceedings unpredictable and adds some fire and otherworldly sounds. by Scott Yanow

LYLE MAYS - Street Dreams (1988) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lyle Mays' second solo album ventures even further afield than his acclaimed first record, into areas not associated with Mays nor his employer Pat Metheny. This time, the personnel list is far more varied, with several guest luminaries from the world of jazz-rock, as well as a big band and full chamber orchestra on some selections. Again, the main thrust of the album is bound up in a lengthy suite with new age atmospheric elements, juxtaposing fleet Brazilian grooves with a chamber orchestra, voluble Mays piano solos, and electronic interpolations by Mays and Frisell reminiscent of early classical electronic music. The solo "Chorinho" is a running classical exercise on electric keyboards, almost a contemporary Bachianas Brasileiras (to borrow Villa-Lobos' term) and a considerable feat of invention. The biggest surprise of all may well be "Possible Straight," a brief, straight-ahead piece of big band hard bop, and "Before You Can Go" seems to be the token emulation of the Metheny groove. There's a lot of inventive, mostly easygoing music here, though if one must choose, the level is not as consistently high as on Mays' first album. by Richard S. Ginell  

LYLE MAYS - Lyle Mays (1986) Lp [24-96] FLAC (tracks)

Lyle Mays waited a long, long time before straying from the Pat Metheny Group to issue his first solo album, but when he did, the results were at once removed but not totally untethered to the Metheny sound and feeling. On his own, Mays' synthesizer solos and textures are close in sound to what he was doing in the Metheny group, but the turns of phrases in his acoustic piano solos reflect the heavy shadow of Keith Jarrett. "Highland Aire" naturally has a buoyant, wistful Scottish flavor; "Teiko" begins with a wash of synths and then offers a mechanical rhythm that is vaguely Asian in feeling; and "Slink" is the closest the album comes to the floating Metheny groove. Although the 14-minute "Alaskan Suite" forms the centerpiece of the LP's side two, the entire side could be considered a suite as a whole, with a ruminative piano solo "Mirror of the Heart" preceding "Alaskan Suite," and "Close to Home" reprising the twinkling, burbling shafts of synthesizer of "Alaskan Suite"'s opening. Bill Frisell gives Mays a different yet no less musical and enterprising guitar foil; drummer Alex Acuna and Metheny group percussionist Nana Vasconcelos are as flexible a team as Mays could want. Marc Johnson is on bass and Billy Drewes is on alto and soprano sax. A very pleasing, thoroughly musical solo debut.    by Richard S. Ginell  
Tracklist  
A1 Highland Aire  7:02
Bagpipes [Uilleann] – Patrick Sky
A2 Teiko 7:21
A3 Slink 8:17
B1 Mirror Of The Heart 4:58
Alaskan Suite (14:12)
B2a Northern Lights
B2b Invocation
B2c Ascent
B3 Close To Home 6:10
Credits
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Billy Drewes
Composed By, Piano, Synthesizer, Autoharp, Producer – Lyle Mays
Double Bass – Marc Johnson
Drums – Alejandro N, Acuña
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Percussion – Nana Vasconcelos