Lyle Mays
Encyclopedia
Lyle Mays is an American
jazz pianist and composer from Wausaukee, Wisconsin
. He is best known for his work with guitarist Pat Metheny
as a member of the Pat Metheny Group
. Along with Metheny, Mays has been a co-composer and arranger of almost all of the group's music and has won eleven Grammy Awards.
, mathematics
, architecture
(building with LEGO
bricks as a child) and music
– the last was developed as his area of focus. Being the son of musically interested parents – his mother played the piano
in church, his father played guitar
by ear – he was allowed to explore the piano with the help of instructor Rose Barron. She was open to letting Mays (who had perfect pitch
) improvise after the formal lesson. At age 9 he played organ at a family member's wedding, and at age 14 he began to play organ for his family's church.
At the suggestion of Dean Wheelock, his eighth grade band instructor, he attended summer camps where he met Rich Matteson who introduced him to important jazz artists.
Bill Evans
' album Live in Montreux was among his revelations. He has also cited Miles Davis' album Filles de Kilimanjaro
as an important influence on his pursuit into jazz music. He attended the University of North Texas
(then NTSU) after attending the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
from 1971 to 1973. He composed and arranged for the world renowned One O'Clock Lab Band
and was the composer and arranger of their highly regarded and Grammy nominated Lab '75 album.
After leaving UNT, Mays toured with Woody Herman
's group for approximately eight months.
In 1974, he met Pat Metheny
with whom he later founded the still-performing Pat Metheny Group
. During that period he lived in New York City
, so poor that he was "almost starving", but he continued to pursue his concept of music and artistry. Mays has won eleven Grammys with the Pat Metheny Group and been nominated for four others for his own work.
His albums as a leader reflect a large variety of musical interests: Lyle Mays and Street Dreams expand the ideas of the Pat Metheny Group, while Fictionary is a straight-ahead jazz trio session featuring fellow North Texan Marc Johnson on bass and Jack DeJohnette
on drums. Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano is a curious album of mostly spontaneous solo piano improvisations recorded both acoustically and to computer via MIDI, the latter being laboriously edited by Mays to then trigger additional synth and acoustically recorded piano effects.
He has also composed and recorded music for children's records, such as Tale of Peter Rabbit, with text read by Meryl Streep
.
The Steppenwolf Theater Company of Chicago featured an assortment of compositions by Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny for their production of Lyle Kessler's
play Orphans
where it has remained special optional music for all productions of the play around the world since
Following his talents and interests, Mays aspires to incorporate divergent elements: composition and improvisation, improvisation and orchestration, acoustic and electronic, old and new. Furthermore he composed classical music like "Twelve Days In The Shadow Of A Miracle", a piece for harp
, flute
, viola
and synthesizer
(recorded 1996 by the Debussy Trio).
As a pianist he manifests strong technique, flowing lyricism, and a supple touch; his solos are often described as developing from almost silence to cascades of sound, often strongly organized around a recurring motif or motifs, or a basic stylistic principle. This sort of playing reflects the contrapuntal complexity of his compositional style and his view of soloing as "real-time composition".
As a composer Mays is interested in complex form, expanding motifs and building suspense through gradation and ascension. Modulations and metric shifts are frequently incorporated.
Noting that his oeuvre as a leader is small, some critics evince frustration with this considerable talent (as manifested, for example, on Fictionary) lying fallow. Apparently Mays maintains interest in other intellectual occupations: architecture (he designed his sister's house), mathematics and logic (Hofstadter
's book Gödel, Escher, Bach
) and computer programming in C++
.
Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays
Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny
Sideman
Composition
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz pianist and composer from Wausaukee, Wisconsin
Wausaukee, Wisconsin
Wausaukee is a village in Marinette County, Wisconsin, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, its population was 572. The village is part of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area....
. He is best known for his work with guitarist Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
as a member of the Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny Group
The Pat Metheny Group is a jazz group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist and bandleader Pat Metheny, composer, keyboardist and pianist Lyle Mays , and bassist and producer Steve Rodby...
. Along with Metheny, Mays has been a co-composer and arranger of almost all of the group's music and has won eleven Grammy Awards.
Biography
Of his four dominant childhood interests – chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
(building with LEGO
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
bricks as a child) and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
– the last was developed as his area of focus. Being the son of musically interested parents – his mother played the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
in church, his father played guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
by ear – he was allowed to explore the piano with the help of instructor Rose Barron. She was open to letting Mays (who had perfect pitch
Absolute pitch
Absolute pitch , widely referred to as perfect pitch, is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of an external reference.-Definition:...
) improvise after the formal lesson. At age 9 he played organ at a family member's wedding, and at age 14 he began to play organ for his family's church.
At the suggestion of Dean Wheelock, his eighth grade band instructor, he attended summer camps where he met Rich Matteson who introduced him to important jazz artists.
Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
' album Live in Montreux was among his revelations. He has also cited Miles Davis' album Filles de Kilimanjaro
Filles de Kilimanjaro
is a studio album by American jazz recording artist Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and September 1968...
as an important influence on his pursuit into jazz music. He attended the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
(then NTSU) after attending the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire is a public liberal arts university located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and has an annual enrollment of more than 10,000 students...
from 1971 to 1973. He composed and arranged for the world renowned One O'Clock Lab Band
One O'Clock Lab Band
The One O’Clock Lab Band for years has been the premier ensemble of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton. The band has performed and toured abroad in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway,...
and was the composer and arranger of their highly regarded and Grammy nominated Lab '75 album.
After leaving UNT, Mays toured with Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
's group for approximately eight months.
In 1974, he met Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
with whom he later founded the still-performing Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny Group
The Pat Metheny Group is a jazz group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist and bandleader Pat Metheny, composer, keyboardist and pianist Lyle Mays , and bassist and producer Steve Rodby...
. During that period he lived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, so poor that he was "almost starving", but he continued to pursue his concept of music and artistry. Mays has won eleven Grammys with the Pat Metheny Group and been nominated for four others for his own work.
Character of his work
Within the context of the Pat Metheny Group, he collaborates with Metheny in composition and provides arrangements, orchestration and - most remarkably - the complex harmonic and metric backbone of the group's musical signature. He occasionally performs on electric guitar as well (on the song Roots of Coincidence, for example). On the song Forward March, from the Pat Metheny Group album First Circle (1984), and in the concert tour for that album, he played trumpet.His albums as a leader reflect a large variety of musical interests: Lyle Mays and Street Dreams expand the ideas of the Pat Metheny Group, while Fictionary is a straight-ahead jazz trio session featuring fellow North Texan Marc Johnson on bass and Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
on drums. Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano is a curious album of mostly spontaneous solo piano improvisations recorded both acoustically and to computer via MIDI, the latter being laboriously edited by Mays to then trigger additional synth and acoustically recorded piano effects.
He has also composed and recorded music for children's records, such as Tale of Peter Rabbit, with text read by Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
.
The Steppenwolf Theater Company of Chicago featured an assortment of compositions by Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny for their production of Lyle Kessler's
Lyle Kessler
Lyle Kessler is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor, best known internationally for Orphans, the play he wrote in 1983.-Actor:...
play Orphans
Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award....
where it has remained special optional music for all productions of the play around the world since
Following his talents and interests, Mays aspires to incorporate divergent elements: composition and improvisation, improvisation and orchestration, acoustic and electronic, old and new. Furthermore he composed classical music like "Twelve Days In The Shadow Of A Miracle", a piece for harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
(recorded 1996 by the Debussy Trio).
As a pianist he manifests strong technique, flowing lyricism, and a supple touch; his solos are often described as developing from almost silence to cascades of sound, often strongly organized around a recurring motif or motifs, or a basic stylistic principle. This sort of playing reflects the contrapuntal complexity of his compositional style and his view of soloing as "real-time composition".
As a composer Mays is interested in complex form, expanding motifs and building suspense through gradation and ascension. Modulations and metric shifts are frequently incorporated.
Noting that his oeuvre as a leader is small, some critics evince frustration with this considerable talent (as manifested, for example, on Fictionary) lying fallow. Apparently Mays maintains interest in other intellectual occupations: architecture (he designed his sister's house), mathematics and logic (Hofstadter
Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Richard Hofstadter is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics...
's book Gödel, Escher, Bach
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is a book by Douglas Hofstadter, described by his publishing company as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"....
) and computer programming in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
.
Discography (selected)
Lyle Mays- Lyle Mays, 1986, GeffenGeffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
- Street Dreams, 1988, Geffen
- Fictionary, 1993, Geffen
- Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano, 2000, Warner Bros.Warner Music GroupWarner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays
- WatercolorsWatercolors (album)Watercolors is Pat Metheny's second album, released in 1977.The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awards the album 4 stars and states: "Metheny's softly focused, asymmetrical guitar style, with echoes of apparent influences as disparate as Jim Hall, George Benson, Jerry Garcia, and various...
, 1977, ECMECM (record label)ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
Pat Metheny Group
- Pat Metheny GroupPat Metheny Group (album)Pat Metheny Group is the first album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1978. It features Pat Metheny on guitar, Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards, Mark Egan on bass, and Dan Gottlieb on drums.-Track listing:-Personnel:...
, 1978, ECM - American GarageAmerican Garage-Track listing:-Personnel:* Pat Metheny - 6 & 12-String Guitar* Lyle Mays - Piano, Oberheim, Autoharp, Organ* Mark Egan - Bass* Dan Gottlieb - Drums-Charts:Album - Billboard-Trivia:...
, 1980, ECM - OfframpOfframpOfframp is the Grammy Award winning third album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1982. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance in 1983.Offramp is the first studio recording on which Metheny used the guitar synthesizer....
, 1982, ECM - TravelsTravels (album)Travels is the Pat Metheny Group's first live album, released in 1983. The album consists of two CDs worth of live material recorded at various venues including Philadelphia, Dallas, Sacramento and Hartford. Along with Pat Metheny, the album features Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby, Dan Gottlieb and the...
, 1983, ECM - First CircleFirst Circle (album)First Circle is a Grammy Award winning album by Pat Metheny Group released in 1984. On the album Pat Metheny is joined by Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards, Steve Rodby on bass, drummer Paul Wertico and vocalist and percussionist Pedro Aznar...
, 1984, ECM - The Falcon and the SnowmanThe Falcon and the Snowman (album)The Falcon and the Snowman is an album of original music for the soundtrack of the Orion Pictures feature length film with the same title, composed and "co-produced" by both Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays....
soundtrack, 1985, EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major... - Still Life (Talking)Still Life (Talking)Still Life is an album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1987. This is the first group's album released by Geffen Records. It features fusion and crossover jazz, combining Brazilian jazz-influenced harmonies with jazz, folk, and pop elements...
, 1987, Geffen - Letter from HomeLetter from HomeLetter from Home is an album by Pat Metheny Group, released in 1989 by Geffen Records. It picks up where Still Life leaves off, continuing to infuse Brazilian elements into light jazz.-Track listing:...
, 1989, Geffen - The Road to YouThe Road to YouThe Road to You is the Pat Metheny Group's second live album, released in 1993, ten years after their first live release, Travels. All of the pieces were recorded live on a European tour in 1991. The songs where taken from the Bari, Pescara; Jesi and Naples, Italy; Marseilles, Paris; and Besançon,...
, 1993, Geffen - We Live HereWe Live HereWe Live Here is an album by the Pat Metheny Group, released in 1995 by Geffen Records. This album shows a high level of collaboration between Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny having composed almost all the songs together except "Episode D'Azur"....
, 1995, Geffen - Quartet, 1996, Geffen
- Imaginary DayImaginary DayImaginary Day is an album by the Pat Metheny Group, released in 1997 by Warner Bros. Records. It also won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, while "The Roots of Coincidence" won Best Rock Instrumental Performance....
, 1997, Warner Bros. - Speaking of NowSpeaking of NowSpeaking of Now is an album by the Pat Metheny Group, released in 2002 by Warner Bros.-Track listing:# "As It Is" – 7:40# "Proof" – 10:13# "Another Life" – 7:08# "The Gathering Sky" – 9:22...
, 2002, Warner Bros. - The Way UpThe Way UpThe Way Up is the Grammy award winning thirteenth album by the Pat Metheny Group, released in 2005. The album consists of one 68 minute-long piece, split into four tracks solely for CD navigation...
, 2005, NonesuchNonesuch RecordsNonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
Pat Metheny
- As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita FallsAs Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita FallsAs Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is a collaborative album by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays, released in 1981. The title makes reference to Wichita, Kansas and Wichita Falls, Texas...
, 1981, ECM - Secret StorySecret Story (album)Secret Story is an album by Pat Metheny released in 1992. The music is all composed by Metheny and it is one of his most ambitious and successful studio ventures, integrating elements of rock, jazz, neo-folk and "world music"...
, 1992, Geffen
Sideman
- The Sound Of The Wasp, Phil WilsonPhil Wilson (trombonist)Phillips Elder Wilson, Jr. is a jazz trombonist, arranger, and teacher. He might be best known as an instructor at the Berklee College of Music and a former chairman at the jazz division of the New England Conservatory of Music.He began on piano, but was advised to switch to trombone due to his...
, 1975, ASI - HomeHome (Steve Swallow album)Home is an album by bassist Steve Swallow featuring poetry by Robert Creeley recorded in 1979 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ron Wynn awarded the album 2½ stars calling it an "Interesting concept"....
, Steve SwallowSteve SwallowSteve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
, 1979, ECM - Shadows and Light, Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, 1980, AsylumAsylum RecordsAsylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell... - Later That EveningLater That EveningLater That Evening is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1982 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
, Eberhard WeberEberhard WeberEberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, Weber is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing...
, 1982, ECM - When Elephants Dream of Music, Bob MosesBob Moses (musician)Rakalam Bob Moses is an American jazz drummer born in New York City.Moses played with Roland Kirk in 1964-65 while he was still a teenager. In 1966 he and Larry Coryell formed The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and from 1967 to 1969 he played in Gary Burton's quartet...
, 1982, Gramavision - Girl at Her Volcano, Ricky Lee Jones, 1983, Warner Bros.
- Mrs. SoffelMrs. SoffelMrs. Soffel is a 1984 American film drama based on the true Buck McGovern and the Biddle Boys case of 1901 Pittsburgh, starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson. It was filmed on location in and around the Serez family Farm in Mulmer Ontario, as well as Wisconsin and establishing shots in Pittsburgh...
(1984) soundtrack in Film Music (album)Film Music (album)Film Music is an album originally released on vinyl by the American trumpeter/synthesist Mark Isham.It consists of extended tracks from the soundtracks of three different films. The first track is from the soundtrack of the film Mrs. Soffel . The second track is from the documentary The Times of...
, Mark IshamMark IshamMark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
, 1985, Windham HillWindham Hill RecordsWindham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected... - The Story of Moses, Bob Moses, 1987, Gramavision
- Medicine Music, Bobby McFerrinBobby McFerrinRobert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
, 1990, EMI - Premonition, Paul McCandlessPaul McCandlessPaul McCandless, Jr. is an American jazz woodwind player and composer. He is one of few expert jazz oboists, and also plays English horn, soprano saxophone, sopranino saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet, and pennywhistle, among other instruments.He has performed with the Paul Winter Consort and is...
, 1991, Windham Hill - Live in Warsaw (1976), Woody HermanWoody HermanWoodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
, 1992, Storyville - Falling Out, Igor ButmanIgor ButmanIgor Butman is a jazz saxophonist born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1961. He is considered to be a virtuoso saxophonist, and a skilled bandleader. American saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. was instrumental in introducing Igor Butman to American audiences by featuring the Russian saxophonist on...
, 1994, Impromptu - Points of View, Nando Lauria, 1994, NaradaNarada ProductionsNarada is a record label formed 1983 as an independent New Age music label and distributed by MCA Records. Now a fully owned subsidiary of EMI, Narada evolved through an expansion of formats to include music from other styles including world music, jazz, Celtic music, new flamenco, acoustic guitar...
- Noa, NoaAchinoam NiniAchinoam Nini , also known by her professional name, Noa, is a leading Israeli international concert and recording artist.-Career:...
, 1994, Geffen - East Coast West Coast, Toots ThielemansToots ThielemansJean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
, 1994, Private MusicPrivate MusicPrivate Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age... - Schemes and Dreams, Pat Coil, 1994, Sheffield Lab
- Fifteen Year Anniversary, Betty BuckleyBetty BuckleyBetty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
, 2000, K.o. Productions
Composition
- Tale of Peter Rabbit (video soundtrack), 1987, Rabbit EarsRabbit Ears ProductionsRabbit Ears Productions is a children's series that aired from 1984-1995 on PBS. The series features famous actors such as Robin Williams, Raul Julia, Laura Dern, Denzel Washington, Danny Glover, and others narrating classic children's classics either well-known in the United States or from around...
- Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (video soundtrack), 1987, Rabbit Ears
- East of the Sun, West of the Moon (video soundtrack), 1991, Rabbit Ears
- Moses the Lawgiver (video soundtrack), 1994, Rabbit Ears
- "Somewhere in Maine" (1988) in Marimolin, Marimolin, 1995, GM Recordings
- "Twelve Days in the Shadow of a Miracle" in "In the Shadow of a Miracle", The Debussy Trio, 1996, Sierra Classical
- Gold, Pat Coil, 1996, Sheffield Lab
- "Mindwalk" in Zeltsman-Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba, 2009, BridgeBridge Records, Inc.Bridge Records, Inc. is an independent record label based in New Rochelle, New York that specializes in 20th century classical music. Its president is Becky Starobin...
Additional reading
- Music and Intellect - a portrait of Lyle Mays
- interview 1
- interview 2
- The Low Down On The Way Up - The making of The Way Up
- Up and Away - an interview with Lyle Mays about "The Way UP", the Pat Metheny Group record of 2005
External links
- Lyle Mays at Amazon.com
- The most comprehensive discography of Lyle Mays
- A live radio performance recorded December 4, 1999, featuring Lyle Mays with Bob Sheppard, Dave Carpenter, and Peter Erskine
- A live video performance from the Free Jazz Festival, Rio de Janeiro featuring the Lyle Mays Quartet with Bob Sheppard, Eric Hochberg and Mark Walker