Charles Gayle Quartet - Daily Bread (1998/2024)

Charles Gayle, who is deeply religious, is a very passionate musician. His emotional ideas on the tenor require a large variety of sounds which he has developed, from growls to squeals, purrs to screams. One could call him an extension of Albert Ayler except that Gayle usually does not utilize folkish melodies as Ayler did and he has a distinctive sound of his own. As with Ayler, though, Gayle pours a great deal of feeling into each solo. This quartet CD is a bit unusual in that Gayle (who is also heard on bass clarinet) plays piano on two songs, bassist William Parker mostly performs on cello (switching to piano on three other pieces) and two numbers feature Gayle on viola and drummer Michael Wumberly switching to violin; "Our Sins" actually has a violin-viola-cello-bass quartet! Bassist Wilber Morris is also in this very simulating and intuitive group. Charles Gayle takes some heartfelt solos on piano and fiddles up a storm on viola, but it is his very intense tenor solos that (as one would expect) leave the biggest impression. To use a cliché, this powerful recording is not for the faint-hearted! © Scott Yanow