JAZZ REVIEW : Mays Turns in Electrifying Acoustic Set

Lyle Mays kept his acoustic quartet on stage for more than 2 1/2 hours Thursday at the Coach House. It was as if the keyboardist best known for his occasional role as sideman to guitarist Pat Metheny, a job that usually finds him on electric instruments, wanted to underscore his talent for the acoustic piano.

Mays needn’t have labored so long. Well before the first hour had passed, it was apparent that he possesses both prodigious amounts of technique and a willingness to push its limits.

In a program that combined material from his new trio album, “Fictionary” (acoustic, of course); tunes from his ongoing stint with Metheny, and long free-form improvisations, Mays took an expansive approach that ranged across a variety of moods and rhythmic formats.

The foursome--Mays, bassist Marc Johnson, saxophonist Bob Sheppard and drummer Mark Walker--staked out ambitious territory with its opener, “Hard Eights,” pulled from the new recording. Sheppard’s tenor stated the curt theme over a strong two-beat shuffle from Walker before Mays swirled into a lengthy solo full of ascending lines and chordal exclamations.

Adding Sheppard to the album’s trio freed Mays to work in responsive accompaniment or to state leads in unison with the saxophonist. The pianist’s sometimes quirky backing prodded his tenor player into a frenzied climax during the title cut off “Fictionary.” Some of Walker’s best work came on this Latin-flavored piece as he contrasted loud tom-tom and snare combinations with quieter passages of cymbal play.

“Bill Evans,” a ballad, found Mays working some of the same narrative style that made that late pianist’s work so engaging. But Mays’ style is denser, more quick to reference Ravel and Debussy than Art Tatum or Bud Powell. His long, unaccompanied excursions developed like a good story line, complete with plenty of tension, plot twists and dynamic swells.

Mays’ solo passages at times recalled the impressionistic solo forays of Keith Jarrett. But rather than relying on repetitive rhythmic hooks, Mays created ever-changing panoramas full of dynamic peaks and valleys. His playing was warm and considered one moment, hot and frantic the next, resulting in a coherent whole.

Bassist Johnson, who once worked with Evans, provided the perfect complement to Mays’ expressionistic play with clean, melodically inclined solos from his upright. Equally effective at a clipped gallop or a blues-based walk, Johnson (whose recent recording, “Right Brain Patrol,” paints world beat influences through its contemplative airs) also added firm funk backing and, at one point, caramel-colored passages played with his bow. One particularly steamy solo found him plucking equally with both right and left hands.

Walker added rhythmic accent and counterpoint as well as sustained timekeeping. Although his onslaught tended to bury Johnson’s sound during the more upbeat sections, his volume was tastefully reserved during quiet passages. The quartet appears tonight at the Strand in Redondo Beach.

Opening act Sound Minds seems headed in the right direction even if it hasn’t overcome some of the sloppy play that marred earlier Coach House appearances.