Magical Experience — Lyle Mays

[ PAT COIL ]

SCHEMES AND DREAMS - this record was one of the three that I did for Sheffield Lab Records, which was a highly respected Audiophile label created by Doug Sax ( who created the ‘mastering’ process for recordings), and Lincoln Mayorga, a highly respected L.A. studio and classical pianist. When it came time for my third record, I asked Doug if it would be ok to have Lyle produce, since I knew that the compositions I was writing were going to be heavily “Lyle” influenced. They said yes, so I called Lyle, who enthusiastically agreed to the project. In that conversation, Lyle said “Sounds great! Let’s scheme and dream and come up with some great songs!”...thus the title track and the name of the album was born. Lyle brought Steve Rodby, the bassist in the Pat Metheny band, on board, and the collaboration of writing and concepts for the music evolved and came together. Lyle made several trips to L.A., where I was living and doing studio work, and I made a trip to Lyle’s house at the time in Wisconsin.

We got some of L.A.’s best musicians who I had been working with involved, and when we got to the recording process, which was ‘live’ to 2-track tape, the music came to life in what I can only describe as a magical experience. These were performances with no fixes or overdubs, and with the great band and Bill Schnee engineering, it all came together beautifully. This was truly a ‘one of a kind’ experience, and my only regret is that we didn’t get a chance to do another one.

After Lyle passed, I heard from many of our close friends. Steve Rodby called and was gracious enough to share that the experience of creating that record was one of the happiest times of Lyle’s life. I believe that to Lyle, friendships, and especially music created with friends were the most important things in life to him.

I think the songs that we collaborated on that have the most Lyle influence are “Schemes And Dreams” and “Waltz For Three Daughters.”

In 2020, I was asked by this organization, "Lest We Forget" to do a Lyle tribute. Here is a version of “Schemes And Dreams” and features Adam Nitti (bass), Marcus Finnie (drums) and Mark Douthit (saxophone).