Watching this Youtube video brought back several childhood memories from watching Mr. Lyman at Waialae Country Club. One of my favorite aspects of live musicians is the opportunity to hear them perform solo. (Of course, the solo medium works for some musicians but not others, and favors some instruments better than others. For example, vibraphone is arguably better as a solo instrument than double bass — but of course it depends on the abilities and sensibilities of the musician playing). I’ve only seen Mr. Lyman solo. He would do weekends at Waialae where he would play an entire evening by himself. His voicings… so lush. Like others have said: “the man’s ability to emote through the vibes”. Bird calls and animal yells, crystal clear, but never in the way of the music. By watching him, you can see exactly how exotica became so popular. Not through gimmicky pop covers, or the exoticization of jazz standards (though he certainly did a bunch of that, particularly after becoming famous; probably at the bequest of record companies). Neither solely through exotic percussion and hip Latin lounge beats, swanky cover art and tiki establishments, mugs and cocktaillogy. But through the personal care and individual expertise of highly trained musicians. I think what we have to consider are,

What are specific aspects of Lyman’s musicality that make us love his work? How can modern exotica bands emulate his approach and sound by using him as a model?     

Here are some brief thoughts that I’ll expand upon later.

• Some of Lyman’s signature sound comes from his choices in mode mixture, which is in common with classical and jazz musics, but also is prominently done in Hawaiian slack-key guitar.
• The interplay of musical idioms from ‘other’ musics (i.e. Latin, Hawaiian) in support of melody
• My favorite piece that Lyman does is “Seabreeze.” That seemed to be one of his favorites too, because you could count on it almost every time he came to play. Another is “Imi Au Ia Oe.”
• What tunes Lyman’s gang chooses to arrange: More ‘local’ stuff with closer-to-tradition cultural connections than Denny’s “Baxterization” of forms and melodies.