专辑简介

by Charlie WilmothOn this recording, the explosive Charles Gayle trades saxophone lines with John Tchicai, who typically plays with a thinner sound in a more restrained style. On paper, it's an odd pairing, but the two musicians settle their differences nicely, with Tchicai playing more aggressively than usual and Gayle often toning things down a bit. Still, despite the presence of plenty of more tentative tracks like the opening title cut, there are flashes of the Albert Ayler-style blasting for which Gayle would later become known. For example, Gayle and Tchicai tear at each other throughout the raucous, 13-minute "Solid Clouds," with Reggie Nicholson's free-rock drumming egging them on. Nicholson and bassist and former Cecil Taylor sideman Sirone are superb throughout Always Born, and they get a chance to shine on their duet, "Coming Together," in which Sirone plays twisting, high-register harmonics on his bass that sound a bit like Gayle's squealing saxophone. Always Born is more restrained than much of Gayle's later work, but his interaction with Tchicai and the fine playing from Sirone and Nicholson are not to be missed.