“never had a bad musical day”

[ DAN GOTTLIEB ]

Can you tell us your first impressions about Lyle upon meeting and playing with him?

Brilliant, amazing player and a really great guy. I remember Pat telling me about Lyle and that he was his first choice for the potential group. I remember playing a few early gigs, before there was an official band, with Pat and Lyle and Mike Richmond on bass. He always sounded incredible, and there was an immediate connection to his playing and friendship.  

What made Lyle such a special musician?

He had amazing technique and musicality. His solos were mesmerizing, and always seemed like an adventure. He knew so much about music and seemed well versed in every area. I don’t ever remember a solo that wasn’t fantastic. To me he never had a bad musical day. 

Name one thing that surprised you about Lyle?

He was good at everything he did. Music, Basketball, Rubiks Cube, Hacky Sack, you name it. And all without big ego. He had fun doing everything, and he was fun to be around. 

Please share in any memories w/ Lyle during the Watercolors session?  

Lyle was the nicest person-I remember it being fun and focused on the music. I was so thrilled just to be a part of it. As Pat was my buddy from college, and we played so much together, my dream was to someday play on one of his albums and here it was happening on his second album! And Eberhard was such a hero, and we had a great time playing on his tour for the two weeks before the session. When I hear a tape of THAT music now (live in concert with Charlie Mariano on sax and Rainer Brüninghaus on keyboards) it was some of the greatest music I have ever played (although I didn’t realize it at the time) and Eberhard and I were really playing as a rhythm section team and he was so well experienced in recording for ECM. We got to the studio (my memory is that I had played many of the tunes like Watercolors, Lakes, with Pat and I think Lyle) before we got to the studio- so that fact that I knew the songs and had just played with Eberhard made it go very smoothly. I remember we played the 10 minute free song-“Sea Song” and Manfred wanted to change the piano mike by a small margin like half an inch or something like that. He is such a perfectionist with sound and he asked if Lyle could overdub his part with the new piano sound. I remember that NONE of us could hear the difference but Lyle obliged, played it again, and it still sounds like we played it all together!

What was it like during the early days forming the Pat Metheny Group?

Pat helped me audition and get in Gary Burton’s band in 1976, my first jazz tour and recording, and I moved from NY to Boston, where Pat and Gary were based. I then toured as a sub with Eberhard Weber’s Colors band in Europe in January 1977, and then flew with Eberhard to Norway to record “Watercolors”. That was Lyle and my first recording with Pat. I was living in a small guest house in the backyard of a homeowner in Cambridge, Mass., and if I remember correctly, Pat wanted Lyle to move from NY to Boston. I think they both did a tour during the summer of 1977 with singer Marlena Shaw. At some point, Pat asked if Lyle could move in the house, and as it was a 2 bedroom house, I said sure. I remember Mark coming up to the house and a rehearsing for a weekend or two in the living room (and playing fungo baseball in the school year next door in between rehearsals), and then doing the first Pat Metheny Group gig! Pat had gotten a van from his Father-a Dodge dealer-and he asked agent/manager Ted Kurland to book every gig he could. It was just the four of us, driving in a van! We would take turns driving, sleeping on top of the equipment in the back. I counted 300 gigs in the first 360 days! The craziest one was Seattle to Dallas to Oklahoma City to Quebec in 5 days! 6000 miles! I think I drove the Detroit to Montreal part. 

What was the dynamic between Pat & Lyle?

It was great. Lyle would have a piece of a song and Pat would have something and we would play it as a quartet and try to piece it together. 

Can you share in some memories about the early part of the group that you’ll never forget?

We had some wild adventures as a group. In addition to those crazy drives, things like playing Brush Creek park in Kansas City and rain coming down in buckets as we loaded the gear and held up the van from falling in the water flowing aqueduct where we were parked;  playing Laclede’s Landing club in St. Louis when the club caught fire due to a short in the game area-we had to load the gear out from a dark club filled with smoke. 

Lyle’s keyboard set up evolved over the years when you were in the group, what were your impressions of that evolution?  

The Oberhiem was a big part of that original group sound. It’s hard to believe the group formed before there was even a Yamaha DX 7! Lyle was always searching for new sounds and new ways to use them. I remember on ”Are You Going with Me”, Lyle used some keyboard (maybe the early Synclavier) where it only had 2 outputs, and he had to run it several times to record all of the parts (if I remember correctly). But Lyle to me always excelled on the acoustic piano.

Can you recall a couple of stand out Lyle moments while touring?

Every gig musically was a standout. I don’t remember any concert where he wasn’t amazing and inspiring. Once in a while a solo might go a different dynamic way, and I might switch to brushes or a different texture that might not have occurred in that song before. But again, it always seemed like an adventure. Every gig with the whole group seemed like an adventure. 

I remember playing in NYC, on a pier on the Hudson River, right next to the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier. This had to have been summer, 1982. My dad had passed away a few months earlier, and we were playing “San Lorenzo.” I remember Lyle starting his solo, and I drifted to thoughts about my dad while we played. I will always remember that solo!

In looking back now at those years w Lyle being that he is gone, what you think about it all?

Amazing that we were part of that group, and I am so proud of being involved. Lyle was such an integral part of it. I really can’t believe he’s gone. I did get lucky enough to play one of Lyle’s gigs with Marc Johnson, which was amazing. We spoke a few times when I was out in Los Angeles, and always promised to get together, and he was one of those friends that you pick right up, as those you had talked a few days ago, even if it had been years. We had a few great conversations, and again, planned to get together.

Photo: Roberto Masotti