Corea, Mays, Metheny and Riley

Lyle Mays – Locked in Amber
Keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist Lyle Mays (1953-2020) is best known as a musician, composer and arranger for the Pat Metheny Group (see the next number in this programme). However, he also released a solo album “Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano” in 2000.

Locked in Amber lasts less than five minutes, but seems much longer due to the slow tempo. Two layers reacting to each other: an arrhythmic field that slowly shifts in colour and register, and “expanded” piano. That piano remains in a limited low area. The ‘colour field’ ensures a long, spread-out final phase.
Mays himself about this piece: “(…) my intent when I started improvising was to keep the entire piece in the low end of the piano. (…) it sounded like echoes of things in the past.”

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Pat Metheny Group – The Way Up, Part Two
Guitarist/composer Pat Metheny (1954) formed a jazz fusion band in 1977 that would remain active for over thirty years. In varying line-ups, around twenty musicians were involved over the years. Only Lyle Mays (keyboards) remained a stable factor – as well as Metheny. The studio album The Way Up was released in 2005, and won a Grammy Award a year later.

The 68 minutes of the single piece The Way Up are divided into four parts. You can listen to Part Two. Duration, 21 minutes.

It is an adventurous, musical trip. Textures vary from solo keyboards to a wide colour palette. This variation also applies to the dynamics – the sound intensity. Several, slowly driving waves culminate in a rollercoaster with a finale in the 13th minute. After this break, a new build-up follows, including a change of mood. Beautiful lyrical solo work by, among others, harmonica player Grégoire Maret.

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Terry Riley – A Rainbow in Curved Air (1968)

In the 1960s, minimal music – also known as ‘repetitive music’ – emerged. Characteristics: lots of repetition, subtle shifts and variations, consonant harmonies, often one or just a few fundamental notes, and a long duration of the pieces. Terry Riley was one of the founders of this innovative and influential style at this time.

This piece also takes up a lot of time, with its 19 minutes. Riley is the only musician. He plays three electric keyboards and a few percussion instruments. These different musical layers are pasted under and above each other via overdubbing, thus creating the illusion of a group of musicians. There is one continuous bass note and one tempo. The ‘registers’ of the keyboard instruments create variation in timbres.

This album has had a great influence on both jazz and rock groups. There was even a rock band that called itself Curved Air.

Also in this hour: two pieces by Chick Corea. See the programme guide.

ProgJazz – Storm Bakker

Photo: Pat Metheny Group, with Lyle Mays (left) and Pat Metheny (right)