JAZZ : High-Speed Technique of Bobby Lyle Dazzles

When Bobby Lyle ripped into his first chorus at the Strand Friday night, his dramatic presentation called up an illusion of watching Franz Liszt play jazz. Like the virtuosic 19th-Century composer-pianist, Lyle revels in a high-speed, rapid-fire technique that sacrifices neither the magnitude nor the character of his music.

Lyle’s opening work was an up-tempo samba, “Flight to Rio,” from his new album. By the time he was halfway through his solo, he was interjecting little rhythmic vamps that countered the song’s metric flow, creating fascinating multilevel layers of swing--one of the most familiar, yet constantly engaging aspects of his style.

Equally appealing were a long, stretched-out mainstream blues (in which tenor saxophonist James Perkins played an urgently climactic, one-note, circular-breathing solo reminiscent of the crowd-arousing days of Jazz at the Philharmonic) and “Spirit Song,” featuring a four-voice choir singing a superb Lyle number calling for peace and understanding.

Saxophonist Everette Harp opened the show with a set that sounded inspired by Grover Washington Jr. and David Sanborn. Like them, Harp has successfully tapped into the commercial vein of contemporary jazz--with its funk-based rhythms and riff-oriented soloing.