AAJ Review: Lyle Mays, Eberhard

[jkelman]

Hi all! My review of Lyle Mays' relatively short but oh so sweet studio swan song, Eberhard, was published this morning at All About Jazz. Here are the first couple of paragraphs, followed by a link to the full article. In a nutshell, it's a stellar piece of music, truly an epic musical journey, made all the more bittersweet in its representing the last bit of new music we'll hear from Mays. That said, if this is all there is, he sure went out on a musical high note:

When pianist, keyboardist, synthesist and composer Lyle Mays passed away at the far too young age of 66 following a long battle with a recurring (but, to this day undisclosed) illness in February 2020, it was a major loss for his fans. It was an especially deep body blow to those who'd followed his decades-long work as performer and compositional collaborator with Pat Metheny in the guitarist's critically and commercially acclaimed Pat Metheny Group.

Mays had been largely MIA from the music scene as a performer for the past decade, but even longer when it came to recorded works. During his lifetime, Mays' own discography as a leader/co-leader ultimately amounted, beyond a small series of media scores, to just six recordings, from 1981's classic collaboration with Metheny and Brazilian percussionist/vocalist Nana Vasconcelos, as Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (ECM Records) through the 2015 release of a German live performance, The Ludwigsburg Concert (SWR Music).

The Ludwigsburg Concert was certainly a most welcome event for fans starved for new music from Mays, whose previous release under his own name, Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano (Warner Bros.), dated back to 2000. Undeniably superb, Ludwigsburg featured Mays, along with a stellar group of band leaders including in-demand Los Angeles-based reed and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Bob Sheppard (Chick Corea, Chris Botti, Bill Cunliffe), double bassist Marc Johnson (Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, Eliane Elias) and drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Eliane Elias, Paquito D'Rivera). But the two-disc set actually represented the long overdue release of a live performance that had taken place 22 years prior in November 1993, in support of Mays' then-recently released trio album, Fictionary (Geffen Records, 1993).

All of which makes the release of Eberhard such a major event....

Continue reading here...

[mcdonap]

Fantastic review of a beautiful piece of music.

I'm still sad about Lyle's passing. It's nice to have this new music. (And, of course, his whole discography.)

[jkelman]

Fantastic review of a beautiful piece of music.

I'm still sad about Lyle's passing. It's nice to have this new music. (And, of course, his whole discography.)

Thanks so much for the kind words. When I was offered this for coverage at all about jazz, despite being buried in the boom and having already committed to a coup,e of other things, I knew I just had to grab this one. The overall response has been most gratifying to me; and if I can help drive folks towards something that moves me as Eberhard does, then I'm a very, very happy guy.

And yes, it's great to have this new piece of music, short though it may be, to add to Mays' relatively diminutive discography as a leader/co-leader.

They did a really good job at keeping this release under wraps too. I only heard about it (and heard it) when the publicist pitched it to me back at the beginning of May.

Anyway, again, thanks for the kind words about the writing. I'm truly an incredibly lucky guy to get the opportunity to write about music this good for a website that has the broad international reach of all about jazz.

[FrippWire]

I picked up a CD on Friday. I really enjoyed your piece, John - thanks for sharing the review. As one commentor on AAJ said, tears threaten to fall while reading.

[jkelman]

I picked up a CD on Friday. I really enjoyed your piece, John - thanks for sharing the review. As one commentor on AAJ said, tears threaten to fall while reading.

Thanks so much for the generous words, much appreciated!