Lyle Mays Quartet: The Ludwigsburg Concert

Here is a kick ass live album for you – The Ludwigsburg Concert by the Lyle Mays Quartet recorded on November 14, 1993 at Scala, Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Mays made a name for himself as a member of The Pat Metheny Group and has appeared as a sideman on multiple albums. He has five solo albums to his credit with this being his latest offering. The band consisted of Lyle Mays (piano), Marc Johnson (bass), Bob Sheppard (sax) and Mark Walker (drums).

The opening track "Fictionary" is a monstrous twenty-four minutes beginning with a six plus minute piano intro where Mays exhibits all the hallmarks of a tremendous player; vibrant, energetic, softer touches and heavier motifs, and of course the chops to pull it off. From there the sax and piano play off one another brilliantly, sometimes in unison, sometimes not but always completely engaging. On "Either Ornette", sax, piano and bass course into free form territory before a melodic piano solo leads the sound in a more bopping direction. More outstanding sax and piano solos highlight the Latin infused "Chorinho" where all the player's virtuosity and skill is laid wide open. The ending track "Lincoln Reviews His Notes" showcases some great bass soloing completely uninterrupted until the three minute mark when jazzy piano enters the stage. That's just the first disc. The second disc is just as intriguing which I will let you discover for yourself.

Great music and great sound quality makes this concert a must have for jazz fans across the board. Do yourself a favour and dig in. Released on the German record label SWRmusic.

Track Listing:
CD 1
1. Fictionary (24:09)
2. Either Ornette (13:22)
3. Chorinho (12:41)
4. Lincoln Reviews His Notes (8:46)
CD 2
5. Hard Eights (11:43)
6. Disbelief (4:26)
7. Are We There Yet? (12:28)
8. Au Lait (13:25)
9. August (9:54)

Added: August 5th 2016
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Facebook Page
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Language: english

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