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Will Lyle

Will Lyle (born 1994) is an upright and electric bassist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and producer from Orange County, California and based in Los Angeles.

A year after graduating from Berklee College of Music, he toured with GRAMMY award-winning drummer Billy Kilson's quartet to Japan in 2017.

After a year of playing in Los Angeles, he became a member of the hard bop pianist Jon Mayer's trio (alumnus of John Coltrane, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and others) with Roy McCurdy (of Cannonball Adderley's group) on drums. He has since also performed with Ralph Peterson, Bob Sheppard, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Pasquale Grasso, Ralph Moore, Joshua Breakstone, Randy Napoleon, Clayton Cameron, Gerry Gibbs, Erena Terakubo, Ricky Woodard, Steve Hass, Barbara Morrison (with John Stephens' Big Bluzzy Band), Melissa Morgan, Francisco Torres, Joey Sellers/Ben Clatworthy's System VI, Ron Escheté, Jackie Ryan, Jonathan Pinson (with Ian Buss at Dizzy's in San Diego), Gary Matsumoto, John Storie, Ilya Serov, Lizzie and the Triggermen, Lia Booth, Tony Guerrero, Kevin Kanner, Mikan Zlatkovich, Gilbert Castellanos, Peter Sprague, Gene Jackson, Jacques Lesure, Lawrence Leathers, Miki Yamanaka, Barry Minnifield (The Voice), Eric Reed (with Gaslamp Quarter Orchestra), Victory Boyd, Art of Verse, and Sumerian Records artist Bones UK. He has recorded as a session bassist on the TV series "Escape at Dannemora", and on LA veteran pianist and GRAMMY foundation member Rob Mullins's 2018 release "The Nearness of You", and keeps and active performing and recording schedule.

In 2020 he received a presidential scholarship to study with the most recorded jazz bassist of all time and former member of Miles Davis's band, Ron Carter, at Manhattan School of Music. Will is currently freelancing in the LA area and doing graduate school online.

His self-released debut record LA Source Codes is scheduled for May 2021 and features Bob Sheppard, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Mahesh Balasooriya, Adam Hersh, Anthony Fung, Nikki Campbell, Mikan Zlatkovich, Jon Mayer and Roy McCurdy, and features several jazz standards and four of Will's original compositions. It is dedicated to the memory of his mentor in jazz, the great Ralph Peterson, Jr.

In 2019, he toured with the Ron King Big Band to Jakarta, Indonesia for the Java Jazz Festival. The same year, he arranged for and directed a 20 piece big band with strings for Barry Minniefield's A Salute to Sinatra concert at the Rancho Mirage Amphitheater. In August of 2019 he performed his debut concert as a bandleader at the Blue Whale in downtown Los Angeles. He has also performed at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, Sam First, Scullers Jazz Club, The Mint in Los Angeles, Mister Kelly's in Osaka, Pit Inn in Tokyo, and many other venues.

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Album Review

Will Lyle: L.A. Source Codes

Read "L.A. Source Codes" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


For computer programmers, a source code is a piece of computer language, which they are able to read and transfer and put to use in a practical way. With his debut album, L.A. Source Codes, bassist Will Lyle makes a connection between this concept and jazz. As with computer programming, jazz has its own language, and learning the language of jazz can be somewhat challenging. A skilled player, however, can take musical “source codes," such as chords, scales and arpeggios, ...

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Take Five With...

Take Five with Will Lyle

Read "Take Five with Will Lyle" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Meet Will Lyle Born in Southern California, Will began studying cello when he was three and also played drums, guitar, piano and percussion, taking up the electric bass at the age of 12. “I had aspirations to become a producer and I originally went to Berklee for musical production, but during my freshman year I heard Paul Chambers]} and {{Scott LaFaro and decided that that was what I wanted to do." After graduating, he toured Japan with drummer Billy Kilson, ...

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Recording

Bebop Bassist Will Lyle Readies Debut Album, 'l.A. Source Codes' Featuring 3 Generations Of Musicians

Bebop Bassist Will Lyle Readies Debut Album, 'l.A. Source Codes' Featuring 3 Generations Of Musicians

Source: 1888 Media

A source code is a piece of computer language that is readable by a human programmer. The talented young bassist-composer Will Lyle sees bebop and the jazz language as a musical source code that is kept alive by both the keepers of the flame and the younger players who push the music forward. Born in Southern California, Will began studying cello when he was three and also played drums, guitar, piano and percussion, taking up the electric bass at the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Triogram

Self Produced
2023

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L.A. Source Codes

Self Produced
2021

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Forasteira

From: L.A. Source Codes
By Will Lyle

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