Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lyle’s parents joined the post-war flight of African Americans from the south to urban northern cities. The family ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Lyle’s musical odyssey began. “My love affair with the piano began at age six with Mom as my first teacher,” Lyle fondly recalls. “Growing up in a climate where you have six months of winter every year provided lots of practice time,” he added, with a smile. The resulting development eventually got him noticed by musicians and club-owners and soon the gigs began to pour in. This “on-the-job” training, coupled with exposure to great jazz piano masters – Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, and Hammond B-3 pioneer Jimmy Smith – advanced Lyle’s performing skills to a point that compelled him to leave college after two years, feeling that the time was right to join the mainstream of national touring musicians. The first opportunity arrived in the form of Red Holt and Eldee Young of Young-Holt Unltd., two ex-Ramsey Lewis bandmembers, who whisked Lyle away from the Twin Cities and onto the national jazz club circuit. Young-Holt can also be credited with exposing Lyle to his first major studio recording on the Atlantic-Cotillion label – a precursor of things to come.

Events happened quickly from this point in the early 70’s: a meeting and subsequent jam session with Jimi Hendrix, who was planning on starting a jazz-rock group with Lyle and fellow Minnesotans Willie Weeks (bass) and Bill Lordan (drums) before his untimely death later that year in 1970; a permanent move with his young family to Los Angeles in 1974; a nine-month tour that same year with Sly and the Family Stone; and a stint with the Ronnie Laws band that led to a meeting with Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders, who then took him to Capitol Records for his first solo recording deal in 1977. After three albums – “The Genie”, “New Warrior” and “Night Fire” – Capitol abandoned its jazz division and Lyle returned to the touring circuit, hitting the road in 1981 with George Benson. The 80’s were characterized by extensive tours with Bette Midler, Al Jarreau, and Anita Baker, all with Lyle as musical director. While performing with saxophonist Gerald Albright in 1987, Lyle came to the attention of Sylvia Rhone, then VP of Jazz and Urban music at Atlantic Records. This resulted in a recording deal in 1988, which spawned six albums in nine years including “Ivory Dreams”; “The Journey”, a #1 jazz album in 1990; “Pianomagic”, a critically acclaimed solo piano project; ”Secret Island”; “Rhythm Stories”; and “The Power of Touch”. Lyle also continued to tour with his own bands, as well as with Bette Midler. He received an Emmy nomination for his musical direction on her HBO Special “Diva Las Vegas” in 1997.

Lyle is currently gearing up to promote a brand new CD entitled “Joyful”, slated for release in November 2002 on the Three Keys Music/Marimelj label. “I’m very excited to be affiliated with a label that truly understands and is committed to exposing all of my musical facets,” says Lyle, explaining that “Joyful”, aside from being a musical expression of his current state of mind, is also the first of a trilogy of projects that will include a solo piano collection and a straight-ahead Hammond B-3 CD. Another Bette Midler tour is also in the works for early 2003. Lyle’s future ambitions include breaking into the film-scoring arena, and setting up jazz seminars in schools and colleges throughout the country to better educate young people about the evolution and historical significance of America’s original art form through demonstration and dialogue. “I just want to keep doing work that will affect people’s lives in a positive way,” declares Lyle, an artist with a seemingly unlimited future.