Streets Charles Gayle

• 1 Compassion I 05:16
• 2 Compassion II 06:43
• 3 Glory & Jesus 09:12
• 4 Streets 10:34
• 5 March of April 09:25
• 6 Doxology 10:47
• 7 Tribulations 08:32
• Total Runtime 01:00:29

Info zu Streets

Das Coverbild verrät schon fast alles. In klassischer Pose herzt da Tenorsaxophonist Charles Gayle sein liebstes Stück (das Instrument ist gemeint, bitte sehr) wie ein, sagen wir, Sonny Rollins oder Charles Mc Pherson. Eigentlich müssten wir vor allem Archie Shepp sagen, aber Gayle als spätberufenen Archie Shepp abzustempeln wäre nicht ganz fair. Dennoch: beim harten, zackigen, eher rebellischen Jazz der Postfusionära sind wir hier ganz gut verortet. Larry Roland am Bass und Michael TA Thompson an den Drums schlagen eine kompetente Brücke zu jener Art von widerborstigen, sich jeder Zuordnung verweigernden Improvisationskünsten unserer Tage – nur dass eben wirklich kein Laptop involviert ist. Kein Funken Electronic und dementsprechend auch kaum ein experimentelles Erkunden des eigenen Sounds, kein halbstündiges Anblasen des Obertons eines Obertons ?? (gibt es nicht, weiß ich eh). Nein, passiert hier nicht. Hier wird treibender, postklassischer Jazz gemacht, der so klingt, als hätte Mingus seine »Changes I & II« erst vor ein paar Wochen eingespielt, als würde Miles Davis gerade erst in seine Koksphase starten, als würden sich Coleman, Cherry und Co. immer noch die Finger wund spielen, um einen Ausweg aus der Free-Sackgasse zu finden. Für Gayle dürfte das die großartigste Ära des Jazz gewesen sein, aber weil man das noch weniger ernst betreiben kann wie, sagen wir, eine Swing-Revivalband, sitzt der Mann eben doch nicht wie Rollins oder Shepp am Cover (ah ja, das Cover ??) – sondern als Clown verkleidet. Was man durchaus als Selbstironisierung verstehen darf. Ist aber nicht ganz so, denn den Comedian lässt Gayle angeblich bei Konzerten vor allem verbal heraushängen. Wie sich das mit seinem ekstatisch-expressiven Saxophonspiel vertragen soll, wäre definitiv ein Erlebnis wert.

Charles Gayle, Tenorsaxophon
Larry Roland,Bass
Michael TA Thompson, Schlagzeug

Charles Gayle
(born February 28, 1939) is an American free jazz musician. Initially known as a saxophonist who came to prominence in the 1990s after decades of obscurity, Gayle also performs as pianist, bass clarinetist, bassist, and percussionist.

Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of his history has been unclear due to his reluctance to talk about his life in interviews. He briefly taught music at the University at Buffalo before relocating to New York City during the early 1970s.

Gayle was homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms around New York City. He has described making a conscious decision to become homeless: "I had to shed my history, my life, everything had to stop right there, and if you live through this, good, and if you don't, you don't. I can't do the rent, the odd jobs, the little rooms, scratchin', and all that, no!" At the same time, this allowed Gayle to devote most of his time to playing music, although he often earned less than US$3 a day from busking:

First of all, I played to play because I need to play. Second of all, the money, a dollar meant a lot to me at that time. Playing out there is obviously different than playing on a stage but that is so rich out there. It's such a whole 'nother world of playin'. I mean I used to walk from Times Square, for instance, all the way to Wall Street playin'. I could walk back and never stop playing. I didn't think about it as anything other than what it was. These were people and I wasn't overly concerned with what they thought. I was playing, I had to play. Also I had to eat some way and I'm not the type to put my hand out. I'd stand there playing with a coffee cup sometime and people would put money in my coffee [Laughs] and you don't get that on the stage. That's beautiful.

When Gayle first set out on the streets, he did not imagine he would remain homeless as long as he did, although he estimates that this period lasted closer to fifteen years than twenty.

In 1988, he gained fame through a trio of albums recorded in one week and released by 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 Testaments. Gayle explains, "I want the people to enjoy the music and if it, in anyway can suggest something about the Lord, for their benefit, that would be first in my mind." He has explicitly dedicated several albums to God. His childhood was influenced by religion, and his musical roots trace to black gospel music. He has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor, William Parker, and Rashied Ali. Gayle's most celebrated work to date is the album Touchin' on Trane (FMP) with Parker and Ali, which received the "Crown" accolade from the Penguin Guide to Jazz.

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: "I understand that when you start speaking about faith or religion, they want you to keep it in a box, but I'm not going to do that. Not because I'm taking advantage of being a musician, I'm the same everywhere, and people have to understand that." Gayle sometimes performs as a mime, "Streets the Clown." "Streets means to me, first, a freedom from Charles. I'm not good at being the center of attention�. It's a liberation from Charles, even though it's me on the stage, it's a different person."

In 2001, Gayle recorded an album entitled Jazz Solo Piano. It 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, entitled Time Zones."

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