Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano
Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano
ASIN: B00004SYS5
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Like his longtime cohort, guitar legend Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays never settles for simplicity. Any other pianist naming a project Solo might easily just play some lovely piano improvisations and leave it at that. But for his fourth solo recording, the longtime Metheny Group keyboardist boldly tries going where no piano virtuoso has gone before. His approach is so unique and risky, in fact, that one almost has to be a technician to appreciate the way he achieves such a rich texturing of ivory-key improv and MIDI orchestrations. Suffice it to say that this music doesn't sound like any other piano-based jazz project, and that it requires multiple listens to fully appreciate the combination of spontaneous composing and complex arrangements and production.
At times, Mays is very dramatic, then he'll switch quickly to the reflective, as he does on the opening track, "The Moment." He plays dramatic, harp-like flourishes, then eases into gentle impressionism that features occasional arpeggio bursts for emphasis. "Let Me Count the Ways" is a mood piece that rings like a sweet little New Age ditty due to the rare (for this project) inclusion of what seems like a real melody. "Procession" is also a rare gem here, a true melodic story piece created off the cuff. Metheny himself encouraged Mays to try a really long piece, and thus we can credit him for the pretentious "We Are All Alone." The tune begins with more than a minute of pure ambience, then ebbs and flows with a mix of graceful passages and potent glissandos--none of which create a melody or much to grab on to for more than 10 minutes. "The Imperative" is quite the opposite--a two-minute burst of pure, rambling energy that maximizes the percussive potential of the piano. The fire of this track helps balance the kindly but long pieces, such as "Long Life," that predominate. Jazz fans and those who appreciated Mays's previous work may at first scratch their heads over this one, but they'll likely join fans of more unrestrained piano explorations in ultimately digging it. --Jonathan Widran
Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano,Lyle Mays,Warner Bros / Wea,Ambient,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Post-Bop
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Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano
Lyle Mays Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  Ambient
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ASIN: B00004SYS5 Release Date: 2000-06-13 |
Tracks:
Amazon.com
Like his longtime cohort, guitar legend Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays never settles for simplicity. Any other pianist naming a project Solo might easily just play some lovely piano improvisations and leave it at that. But for his fourth solo recording, the longtime Metheny Group keyboardist boldly tries going where no piano virtuoso has gone before. His approach is so unique and risky, in fact, that one almost has to be a technician to appreciate the way he achieves such a rich texturing of ivory-key improv and MIDI orchestrations. Suffice it to say that this music doesn't sound like any other piano-based jazz project, and that it requires multiple listens to fully appreciate the combination of spontaneous composing and complex arrangements and production.At times, Mays is very dramatic, then he'll switch quickly to the reflective, as he does on the opening track, "The Moment." He plays dramatic, harp-like flourishes, then eases into gentle impressionism that features occasional arpeggio bursts for emphasis. "Let Me Count the Ways" is a mood piece that rings like a sweet little New Age ditty due to the rare (for this project) inclusion of what seems like a real melody. "Procession" is also a rare gem here, a true melodic story piece created off the cuff. Metheny himself encouraged Mays to try a really long piece, and thus we can credit him for the pretentious "We Are All Alone." The tune begins with more than a minute of pure ambience, then ebbs and flows with a mix of graceful passages and potent glissandos--none of which create a melody or much to grab on to for more than 10 minutes. "The Imperative" is quite the opposite--a two-minute burst of pure, rambling energy that maximizes the percussive potential of the piano. The fire of this track helps balance the kindly but long pieces, such as "Long Life," that predominate. Jazz fans and those who appreciated Mays's previous work may at first scratch their heads over this one, but they'll likely join fans of more unrestrained piano explorations in ultimately digging it. --Jonathan Widran
Customer Reviews:
Takes some getting used to.......2005-02-06
Not for everyone.......2004-04-17
Take a look over the 28 other reviews and check out the stars that were given. Almost everyone gave this cd either 5 stars or 1 star. People either like this cd or hate it.
This cd shows a very advanced musician creating textures and melodies and atmospheres and moods at a very deep level. Another reviver actually said that this sounds like a little kid playing on the family piano with one finger?!?! I have no idea what you're hearing (or not hearing).
This is a very special and unique cd. If you're expecting it to sound like the Pat Metheny Group, than yes, you'll be disappointed. But if you want to be taken someplace new, this disk will take you there.
The music is very beautiful, free improvisations, with ethereal sounds, wonderful colors. This is what a genius sounds like when given free reign.
Piano and more.......2003-01-24
What we were waiting for, and what we knew Lyle could do.......2002-07-01
I remember reading an interview with Lyle in Keyboard magazine, right after "Street Dreams" came out, in which he expressed his supreme satisfaction with that album and said that his first, self-titled album was something just thrown together that he wasn't particularly satisfied with. Nothing could have come further from how I received the two albums against one another.
"Lyle Mays" has been one of my very favorite albums of all time since the day I was first exposed to it, and "Street Dreams" seemed less sincere and more fabricated by comparison. "Solo" taps again that rich vein that we haven't heard fully expressed since "Lyle Mays" - the beautiful, glassy piano textures, the ethereal backdrops of analog synth, the lyricism of a playing style that knows that it does not need to prove itself. To me, this is Mays at his best, and for those who preferred the arctic, "icy" sound over the urban, more Metheny-group-eqsue, this will be the album worth the wait of - what will it have been - 14 years?
Wonderful if you get it..........2001-10-18
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