Search - Charles Gayle :: Consecration

Intense

01/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of music is called "intense" but here is an album which really deserves it. Gayle plays saxophone with obvious skill and out of this world fervor. It's a real high energy trip. Listening to this album, one is forced to contemplate the limits of the strength of human musical expression and the limits of the human mind to take in forceful saxophone playing. I mean that as a compliment! In an age of polite, competent, safe recreations of 1950s hard bop, this album is a startling reaffirmation of the value of free form jazz expression."

Rain of fire

echoes of empires | San Francisco, CA USA | 07/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This music is among the most intense and creative I've ever heard, standing right alongside the profound music of Albert Ayler. I was lucky enough to have heard Gayle live in Oakland years ago in a trio format. With the bassist at the left and the drummer at the right, Gayle opened the concert by striding between them from the back of the stage, head down, beginning to play his tenor as he rose up and neared the stage front - what came out of him was an explosion of powerful intricate sound, and for the duration of the concert he did not flag. I couldn't for the life of me understand how he could keep up that level of intensity for that long. It was unquestionably one of the most memorable concerts I have ever seen, standing right alongside Diamanda Galas and Sun Ra. If you like free jazz at it's hottest, do not fail to pick this cd up.









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