Lyle Mays waited a long, long time before straying from
the Pat Metheny Group to issue his first solo album, but when he did, the results were at once removed but not totally untethered to the
Metheny sound and feeling. On his own,
Mays' synthesizer solos and textures are close in sound to what he was doing in the
Metheny group, but the turns of phrases in his acoustic piano solos reflect the heavy shadow of
Keith Jarrett. "Highland Aire" naturally has a buoyant, wistful Scottish flavor; "Teiko" begins with a wash of synths and then offers a mechanical rhythm that is vaguely Asian in feeling; and "Slink" is the closest the album comes to the floating
Metheny groove. Although the 14-minute "Alaskan Suite" forms the centerpiece of the LP's side two, the entire side could be considered a suite as a whole, with a ruminative piano solo "Mirror of the Heart" preceding "Alaskan Suite," and "Close to Home" reprising the twinkling, burbling shafts of synthesizer of "Alaskan Suite"'s opening.
Bill Frisell gives
Mays a different yet no less musical and enterprising guitar foil; drummer
Alex Acuña and
Metheny group percussionist
Nana Vasconcelos are as flexible a team as
Mays could want.
Marc Johnson is on bass and
Billy Drewes is on alto and soprano sax. A very pleasing, thoroughly musical solo debut. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
