Lyle Mays has Died

22 February 2020

When I was young and studying at university, I went to concerts all the time.  Many of them are now quite forgettable.  But there was one band that stands out. I saw a number of times in a very small hall. They were the Pat Metheny Group.  The core of that four-man ensemble was the interplay between Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.

This music was lyrical and very spatial.  The lyricism of the May’s piano and Metheny’s ethereal guitar took you to places out and beyond the confines of the 250-seat hall they were playing in.  Hearing Pat’s solos and Lyle’s journeys to the softer side of forever left me feeling clear, aware and alive.  These concerts were as invigorating as sleeping outside on a North Dakota night and being overwhelmed by the sheer number of stars you could see from the middle of nowhere.

Lyle died recently.  But his piano work will live on for a great many years.  Take some time to go back and listen to the music he was making in the late 1970s.  It will take your breath away.