Lyle was all ears

[ ADAM NUSSBAUM ]

Did you know Lyle prior to this project (1983 Lyle/Nana Group)?

I knew Lyle slightly just from being on gigs and different situations.  I didn’t play with him but heard him perform with Pat Metheny.  I was buddies with Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb and jammed with Pat before.  

How did you get this gig?

I was playing with Marc Johnson with Stan Getz. Marc and I were also in a trio with a wonderful pianist and composer named Jim McNeely.   I was also good friends with Billy Drewes.  I knew Bill Frisell. My sense is that Marc might have recommended me for the gig.

At that point in 1983, there was a lot of advancement in technology.  You coming from playing with Stan Getz, what was your experience and sense about playing behind and supporting synths?

I had grown up with a friend of mine named Robert Aries.  He is a very good piano and keyboard player. We played in bands growing up from the time we were teenagers.  He then went on to work with diverse artists such as John Scofield, Liza Minnelli, he played with Average White Band and he covers a lot of ground and was a prodigy.  He was into the sounds and things like that.  He had the Wurlitzer, electric piano and got into doing stuff with synths.  He was a sonic explorer.  So, I had experience in playing in that environment with him.  But I have to say that Lyle had brought it to another level in what he was doing in the Pat Metheny Group.  He was always playing and developing stuff in Pat’s group.  Lyle really had a lot to do in creating the sound of that band.

Tell us about the musicians and the session/performance?

It was an interesting variety of people.  You had Nana who is a minstrel of the world and a true natural force. The musical experience was within him. He could pick up anything.  He was like Don Cherry in that he could pick up any instrument and make music with it and just have that deep innate ability that is so connected.

There were so many different things at play.  Lyle is an incredible composer.  He is also a wonderful orchestrator and the elements of bringing together all these people coming in and trying to find the common ground with the material.  It was exciting and being around somebody like Lyle and Marc, Billy, Bill, Nana and Pedro was simply exciting.

Lyle was smart.  A great band leader hires people that he or she believes can innately get into what they trying to pursue.  The best thing a good band leader can do is nothing.  You are there because of what you are bringing to the table.  Lyle did not say much of anything.  We just tried to interpret the music and do the best we could.    

We had one rehearsal for this and that was it.  What you are hearing on that performance is us trying to discover and experience what is going on in real time as we are doing it.  It was like we were just trying to find common ground and create.  We did not over rehearse were we get into the aspect of recreating.

We all felt that there was an energy present and there was an excitement about it all.  We also had players that were very good listeners.  To me the greatest musicians are the ones that hear the best.  You can play if you are blind but if those ears aren’t working nothing is happening.

Any further thoughts?

What Lyle had already done had caused me to have deep respect of the possibilities. I was happy to be a part of it.  It was always a nice thing when you are into it and everyone is enjoying the process.  And Lyle was all ears.  There were so many elements brought all together.

What’s also interesting is that we are talking about something that is analogous to having a first date with somebody. This was the moment in time and documentation of the first date - the good, bad and the ugly.  It is a photograph of a moment in time.  We are talking 37 years ago.  What did I know?  I was 28 years old.  I was just trying to get in there and do the best I could do.  It is also not about “me”  it’s about “we.”  I am a part of the team.  There is that word team:  Together Everyone Achieves More. The best thing we can do is get out of our own way and react and respond and be within the music.

When you have good musicians and people that are listening there is that old expression “there is never a second chance at that first take” … I think great improvisers are always willing to go for the feeling than for perfection.  If it feels good, it feels good.  You do something five times you do from create mode to recreate mode.

It was an exciting thing and I remember we all felt the energy.   It would have been great if we could have done more with that situation.  

It was just an incredible spirit. It was a lot of fun.