Charles Gayle
Encyclopedia
Charles Gayle is a free jazz
saxophonist
, pianist
, bass clarinet
ist, and percussionist.
, New York
. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway
platforms around New York City
. In 1988, he gained fame through a trio of albums recorded by a Swedish
label
, Silkheart Records
. Since then he has become a major figure in free jazz, recording for labels including Black Saint
, Knitting Factory Records
, FMP, and Clean Feed
. He has also taught music at Bennington College
.
Gayle's music is spiritual, and heavily inspired by the Old
and New Testament
s. He has explicitly dedicated several albums to God
. His childhood was influenced by religion, and his musical roots trace to black gospel music
. After his church experiences, Gayle credits among his influences Louis Armstrong
, John Coltrane
, Albert Ayler
, Thelonious Monk
, and Art Tatum
. He has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor
, William Parker
, and Rashied Ali
.
Gayle's most celebrated work to date remains the album Touchin' on Trane (FMP) with Parker and Ali. Though he established his reputation primarily as a tenor saxophonist, he has increasingly turned to other instruments, notably the piano (which was, in fact, his original instrument) and alto saxophone. More controversially, he has sometimes included lengthy spoken-word addresses to the audience in his concerts touching on his political and religious beliefs; for a period he was even largely performing as a mime, "Streets the Clown".
In 2001, Gayle recorded an album titled Jazz Solo Piano. This disc consisted mostly of straightforward jazz standards, and is a response to critics who charge that free jazz musicians cannot play bebop
. In 2006, Gayle followed up with a second album of solo piano, this time featuring original material, titled Time Zones. He has also recently released several albums on Clean Feed and Ayler Records that include traditional jazz standards.
In 2006, poet Steve Dalachinsky
published a book of poems written while watching Gayle play entitled The Final Nite & Other Poems: Complete Notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006.
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
ist, and percussionist.
Biography
Charles Gayle was born in BuffaloBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
platforms around New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 1988, he gained fame through a trio of albums recorded by a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Silkheart Records
Silkheart Records
- External links :* *...
. Since then he has become a major figure in free jazz, recording for labels including Black Saint
Black Saint/Soul Note
Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian jazz independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.-History:...
, Knitting Factory Records
Knitting Factory Records
Knitting Factory Records is an independent American music label that is notable for promoting a variety of artists including deceased Nigerian political agitator and musician Fela Kuti...
, FMP, and Clean Feed
Clean Feed Records
Clean Feed Records is a jazz record label. The company was founded in 2001 in Lisbon, Portugal. , the label has issued more than 200 albums and one DVD. Its roster of artists includes Ken Vandermark, Dennis González, Scott Fields, Mark Dresser, Tim Berne, Charles Gayle, Peter Evans, Tony Malaby,...
. He has also taught music at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
.
Gayle's music is spiritual, and heavily inspired by the Old
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
s. He has explicitly dedicated several albums to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. His childhood was influenced by religion, and his musical roots trace to black gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. After his church experiences, Gayle credits among his influences Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, and Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
. He has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, William Parker
William Parker (musician)
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist, poet and composer.-Biography:Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco...
, and Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson was an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.-Biography:...
.
Gayle's most celebrated work to date remains the album Touchin' on Trane (FMP) with Parker and Ali. Though he established his reputation primarily as a tenor saxophonist, he has increasingly turned to other instruments, notably the piano (which was, in fact, his original instrument) and alto saxophone. More controversially, he has sometimes included lengthy spoken-word addresses to the audience in his concerts touching on his political and religious beliefs; for a period he was even largely performing as a mime, "Streets the Clown".
In 2001, Gayle recorded an album titled Jazz Solo Piano. This disc consisted mostly of straightforward jazz standards, and is a response to critics who charge that free jazz musicians cannot play bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
. In 2006, Gayle followed up with a second album of solo piano, this time featuring original material, titled Time Zones. He has also recently released several albums on Clean Feed and Ayler Records that include traditional jazz standards.
In 2006, poet Steve Dalachinsky
Steve Dalachinsky
Steve Dalachinsky is a New York downtown poet. He is active in the poetry, music, art and music- Free jazz scene.Dalachinsky was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946...
published a book of poems written while watching Gayle play entitled The Final Nite & Other Poems: Complete Notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006.
As leader
- Always Born (Silkheart, 1988)
- Homeless (Silkheart, 1988)
- Spirits Before (Silkheart, 1988)
- Touchin' on Trane (FMP, 1991)
- Repent (Knitting FactoryKnitting FactoryThe Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
, 1992) - Translations (Silkheart, 1993)
- Raining Fire (Silkheart, 1993)
- More Live at the Knitting FactoryMore Live at the Knitting FactoryMore Live at the Knitting Factory is a 1993 album by Charles Gayle.-Tracks:CD One1. Sealed Books 2. Take Refuge 3. Covenants 4. Most HighCD Two1. Deliverance2. Sanctification3. Living Waters4. Newness of Life5. Gifts...
(Knitting Factory, 1993) - ConsecrationConsecration (album)Consecration is an album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle featuring performances recorded in 1993 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1993) - Berlin Movement from Future Years (FMP, 1993)
- Abiding Variations (FMP, 1993)
- Live at Disobey (Blast FirstBlast FirstBlast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label, Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal Blast, published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914...
, 1994) - Kingdom Come (Knitting Factory, 1994)
- Unto I AM (Victo, 1994)
- Testaments (Knitting Factory, 1995)
- Daily BreadDaily Bread (Charles Gayle album)Daily Bread is an album by American jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle featuring performances recorded in 1995 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1995) - Delivered (2.13.612.13.612.13.61, Inc. is a publisher and record company founded by musician Henry Rollins and named after his birthday . The company has released albums by the Rollins Band, all of Rollins's spoken-word work, and numerous books....
, 1997) - Solo in Japan (PSF, 1997)
- Precious Soul (FMP, 1997)
- Ancient of Days (Knitting Factory, 1999)
- Jazz Solo Piano (Knitting Factory, 2000)
- Shout! (Clean Feed, 2003)
- No Bills! (Long Arm Records, 2005)
- Time Zones (Tompkins Square, 2006)
- Consider The Lilies (Clean Feed, 2006)
- Live At The Glenn Miller Cafe (Ayler, 2006)
- Blue Shadows (Silkheart, 2007)
- By Any Means - Live at Crescendo (Ayler Records 2007)
- Forgiveness (Not Two Records, 2008)
- Our Souls (No Business Records, 2010) - Limited edition 500 numbered copies -vinyl only
As sideman
- Cecil Taylor: Always a Pleasure (FMP, 1993)
- The Blue Humans: Live in London 1994 (Blast First, 1996) [Charles Gayle plays Drums]
- Sunny Murray Duo: Illuminators (Audible Hiss, 1996)
- Sirone Bang Ensemble: Configuration (Silkheart, 2004)
- The Rollins Band: Weighting (2.13.61, 2004)
- William Parker Bass Quartet featuring Charles Gayle: Requim (Splasch, 2006)
External links
- The FMP releases
- Charles Gayle interview by Howard Mandel for The Wire (magazine)The Wire (magazine)The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...