Charles Gayle is a pretty fascinating story. the dude was homeless for 20 years, playing on the new york subway platform for change before having some records come out overseas in the 1980s. this particular record, Ancient of Days, came out on the Knitting Factory label in 1999 and is one of his more straightforward record. the ubiquitous honks and squeals of free jazz are there but Michael Wimberly's drums are pretty straight forward, bombastic in the Elvin Jones vein, and Hank Johnson's piano gives the songs movement and pulse. if i were going to give anyone an introduction to this sort of 90s era free jazz, Charles Gayle's Ancient of Days would be just as good a starting point as any. the two tracks shared here, "Betrayal" and "Glorified Love," introduce and close the record and show the range of Gayle's sound.
interesting side note, Gayle's was known to book gigs, oftentimes billed as solo piano performances, and instead show up dressed as a clown (as shown on the Days cover art) and proceed to preach about the horrors of abortion. strange.
1. Betrayl
2. Risen Eternal
3. Holy Servant
4. Draw Me Nearer
5. New Earth
6. Glorified Love
Charles Gayle on wiki
Charles Gayle on itunes
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