Lyle Mays

Lyle Mays has long been an important collaborator of Pat Metheny, and it's not hard to see why: his subtly shaded keyboard playing fits right in with the guitarist's pastel-colored Fusion esthetic. His own recordings range from the chilly, ECM-style electric folk-jazz of his self-titled debut to the more straight-ahead, Bill Evans-inspired Post Bop of Fictionary (1992). Solo Improvisations for Expanded Piano (2000) moves in even different directions, with a mix of grandly rolling piano arpeggios, pastoral harmonies and atmospheric synth washes. The album adds up to a novel hybrid bridging the worlds of new age and classical, with only the slightest hints of jazz in evidence.