RIP Lyle Mays

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

way too young

but I thought RIP threads were ok on the main board???

Neil Peart RIP is still on the main board

[aith01]

Ugh... I was not expecting this. Way too young to go.

The music he made with Pat Metheny is very dear to my heart. Words fail in describing just how much it means to me, so I'll just say I'm really sorry to hear this news. He will be missed.

[Gizmotron]

Ugh! The hits keep coming.

Lyle was unique. What a lyrical voice he had. What he could do with one simple note! His fingers could individually control the volume of each piano note like few could.
He just blew me away when I first saw PMG in 1978.

So sad.

[Boceephus]

Another influential player gone. RIP!


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[hippypants]

RIP, sad news. I have one of his early albums he did up on North Texas, Denton.

[Jerjo]

RIP to an absolutely peerless musician

[Gizmotron]

Lyle Mays' music has been a part of my life since American Garage came out in 1979. His collaborations with Metheny are without peer and his own compositions and playing place him solidly among the greatest who ever lived. In 1993, I was a faculty member at a small university in Wisconsin, and through a North Texas connection our director of jazz studies had with Mays, he was brought to be a guest artist and to do a trio concert with me and the faculty drummer. This was right around the time when Fictionary was released, and some of those compositions were on the set list. Needless to say, the two of us were NOT Marc Johnson and Jack DeJohnette. Yet, through our brief rehearsal period, the performance, and the hang afterward, Mays was nothing short of completely gracious and supportive. A consummate professional. Sharing the stage with him, especially in that context, was a once-in-a-lifetime honor and privilege, and a memory I've carried fondly ever since.

RIP, and thank you for your music and your spirit.

Very cool.
Thank you for relating that.

[JJ88]

I just love this version of the track. A shame the song never made it onto the Travels double.

[Sunlight Caller]

Such sad news, another sublime artiste lost to us, it’s been an horrific run these past years. Apart from the wonderful work with the PMG, I adore the ensemble playing supporting Joni on Shadows and Light, was there ever a better backing band. RIP.

[dropforge]

Lyle Mays' music has been a part of my life since American Garage came out in 1979. His collaborations with Metheny are without peer and his own compositions and playing place him solidly among the greatest who ever lived. In 1993, I was a faculty member at a small university in Wisconsin, and through a North Texas connection our director of jazz studies had with Mays, he was brought to be a guest artist and to do a trio concert with me and the faculty drummer. This was right around the time when Fictionary was released, and some of those compositions were on the set list. Needless to say, the two of us were NOT Marc Johnson and Jack DeJohnette. Yet, through our brief rehearsal period, the performance, and the hang afterward, Mays was nothing short of completely gracious and supportive. A consummate professional. Sharing the stage with him, especially in that context, was a once-in-a-lifetime honor and privilege, and a memory I've carried fondly ever since.

RIP, and thank you for your music and your spirit.

That is amazing!!

[wideopenears]

Just gutted to hear this news.

[aith01]

Lyle Mays' music has been a part of my life since American Garage came out in 1979. His collaborations with Metheny are without peer and his own compositions and playing place him solidly among the greatest who ever lived. In 1993, I was a faculty member at a small university in Wisconsin, and through a North Texas connection our director of jazz studies had with Mays, he was brought to be a guest artist and to do a trio concert with me and the faculty drummer. This was right around the time when Fictionary was released, and some of those compositions were on the set list. Needless to say, the two of us were NOT Marc Johnson and Jack DeJohnette. Yet, through our brief rehearsal period, the performance, and the hang afterward, Mays was nothing short of completely gracious and supportive. A consummate professional. Sharing the stage with him, especially in that context, was a once-in-a-lifetime honor and privilege, and a memory I've carried fondly ever since.

RIP, and thank you for your music and your spirit.

That's a nice anecdote. Sounds like a great experience too! Thank you for sharing it.

[Firth]

So young, RIP Lyle. The first Pat Metheny Group album was ground breaking thanks to Mr. Mays and of course Pat. And then there was the awesome concert “Shadows and Light” where Jaco Pastorius, Pat and Lyle supported Joni Mitchell. One of the greatest pop rock jazz fusion concerts ever.

[Firth]

A post from FB:


I post this here only because I know that Pat Metheny and Lyle are friends of Steve Morse’s:

I am grateful to have seen The Pat Metheny Group at Rogues just after Pat and Lyle completed the Joni Mitchell tour. We chatted after the show. I remember Pat was really sick that night. He had thrown up before the gig. It was a great show and Lyle was on fire. They were close friends with The Dixie Dregs, so we had a lot to talk about. A most excellent musician and master at the piano.

[arturs]

I've been on a major PMG kick lately so this really hurts. I've watched The Way Up DVD about 10 times in the last month. Lyle is astounding on that thing. Just a few days ago I was pondering why it wasn't called the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays group. They are definitely equals in that setting. Listen to any PM solo or collaborative effort with others. A lot are really good, but that PMG magic is gone as soon as Lyle is not there. RIP.

[SunRunner2]

I've been on a major PMG kick lately so this really hurts. I've watched The Way Up DVD about 10 times in the last month. Lyle is astounding on that thing. Just a few days ago I was pondering why it wasn't called the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays group. They are definitely equals in that setting. Listen to any PM solo or collaborative effort with others. A lot are really good, but that PMG magic is gone as soon as Lyle is not there. RIP.

I concur. Always thought of those releases with both musicians as Metheny/Mays ~ it was such a natural collaboration.

[rdclark]

I'm a fan of PM, but most of what I like about PMG came from Mays. Pat as a solo artist is something different from PMG, but some of Lyle's solo work just sounds like PMG with Pat sitting out.

Let me throw in something from left field: If you enjoy Mays strictly as a pianist, give a listen to some of Bruce Hornsby's solo work, which can be found on Solo Concerts, and to Camp Meeting (with Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette). There is something about their harmonic sensibilities, their open American voicings, that seem to rise from similar roots.

RIP Lyle Mays. I've missed him for a long time. I hope he didn't suffer.

[rapidfirerob]

A great musician with a beautiful soul. He and Pat made amazing music together, and Lyle did so on his own as well. Very sad.

[2000jw]

Very sad to read this news. Like many, I considered him coequal in the PMG and was sorry when that group went on hiatus after "The Way Up". That could now be viewed as the pinnacle of their work together, but the other albums are invaluable as well: just this morning I was listening to "The Awakening" off "Imaginary Day" and admiring the cinematic sweep of the detailed arrangement - one of the many pieces of his legacy, which we're lucky to have.

[WJK59]

One of my absolute favorite players - not the flashiest, but certainly one of the most tasteful, and the keyboardist I probably most wished I could play like.
His Alaskan Suite off of his self-titled solo album is a long-time favorite.

[Firth]

I've been on a major PMG kick lately so this really hurts. I've watched The Way Up DVD about 10 times in the last month. Lyle is astounding on that thing. Just a few days ago I was pondering why it wasn't called the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays group. They are definitely equals in that setting. Listen to any PM solo or collaborative effort with others. A lot are really good, but that PMG magic is gone as soon as Lyle is not there. RIP.

Great point, only act better than PMG is this regard, was when essentially PMG joined Jaco Pastorius with Joni Mitchell.

[proggy_jazzer]

I spun As Falls Wichita... three times yesterday, and plan to give The Way Up a listen or two today. TWU seems to me to be a direct descendant of AFWSFWF (the piece itself if not the entire album), and they make impressive (if not chronologically exact) bookends to Mays' partnership with Metheny. Sad as this loss is, there is some transcendent music left for us who have yet to shake off this mortal coil.

[aith01]

Sad as this loss is, there is some transcendent music left for us who have yet to shake off this mortal coil.

Very true.

I'm listening to As Falls Wichita... this morning. The ending of that song always gets me. By the time it's over I always feel like I'm on the verge of tears, even going back to the very first time I heard it years ago. It's the final 4 minutes or so, something about those ascending chords...

[proggy_jazzer]

^^^
Yes! And the way it resolves perfectly into Ozark, which is just a piano tour de force...

I guess I'll put it on again!

[rcarlberg]