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Pianist Bobby Lyle learned long ago that success and longevity in the music business are directly related to versatility and the ability to constantly refine and reinvent God-given talent. Thus, in a career that has spanned some three decades, Bobby has established himself as a songwriter, producer, arranger, music publisher, sideman, bandleader, musical director, and world-class performer. Audiences at home and abroad have been mesmerized by Bobby's melodic compositions and dazzling piano techniques.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Bobby's parents joined the post-war flight of African-Americans from the south to urban northern cities. The family ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota – and that's where Bobby's musical odyssey began. “My love affair with the piano began at age six with Mom as my first teacher,” Bobby fondly recalls. “And growing up in a climate where you have six months of winter every year provided lots of practice time,” he adds with a smile.

The resulting development 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 the great jazz piano masters (Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, and Hammond B-3 pioneer Jimmy Smith) advanced Bobby's performing skills to the point that he left college after two years feeling that the time was right to join the mainstream of national touring musicians. The first touring opportunity arrived in the form of Red Holt and Eldee Young (Young-Holt Unltd.), ex-Ramsey Lewis band members, who whisked Bobby away from the Twin Cities and into the national jazz club circuit. They also exposed him to his first major studio recording on the Atlantic-Cotillion label – a precursor of things to come.

By the early 1970s, Bobby's career began to progress quickly. Bobby reached several milestones; a meeting and subsequent jam session with Jimi Hendrix who was planning on starting a jazz-rock group with Bobby and fellow Minnesotans, Willie Weeks (bass), and Bill Lordan, (drums) as the rhythm section, before his untimely death later that year; 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, which 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 their jazz division and Bobby returned to the touring circuit-hitting the road in 1981 with George Benson. Extensive tours followed with Bette Midler, Al Jarreau, and Anita Baker (all as musical director) which covered most of the eighties. While performing with saxophonist Gerald Albright in 1987, Bobby 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”, which became a #1 jazz album in 1990; “Pianomagic”, a critically- acclaimed solo piano project; ”Secret Island”; “Rhythm Stories”; and “The Power of Touch”.

In the meantime, Bobby continued to tour with his own bands as well as a long stint with the incomparable Bette Midler. He received an Emmy nomination for his musical direction on Midler's HBO Special, “Diva Las Vegas” in 1997.

At present, Bobby is gearing up to promote the April 6 th release of his latest project, “Straight and Smooth”, a groundbreaking two-disc effort that features Bobby in his classic smooth jazz format on one disc, and lending his touch to a mixture of jazz classics, standards and originals with an acoustic piano trio on the other. Coming off last year's “Joyful” project, which peaked at # 8 on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart, Bobby is excited about taking his musical message to the next level. “Combining smooth and straight-ahead jazz in the same package has never been tried before” explained Bobby. “I applaud my record label, Three Keys Music, for having the vision and the courage to present me in this way. And I'm really pumped about the live performance opportunities the two formats will create for me to take my music to the people.”