Charles Gayle has a new album coming out next month—his first studio recording in five years, and the first album to feature his tenor saxophone playing in quite a few more years than that; he’s been focusing on the alto sax, and the piano, for a while now. The album’s called Streets, and its cover art (above) shows him garbed as the clown character by that name that he sometimes performed as in the 1990s. Streets hasn’t made an appearance in a while, either.
You can hear a track from the new album right here; it’s called “Compassion I,” and features Larry Roland on bass and Michael TA Thompson on drums.
Below is some video of Gayle performing (in Streets makeup, and backed by bassist Gerald Benson and drummer Gerald Cleaver) at the Knitting Factory in 1996.