Charles Tyler Ensemble – Voyage From Jericho

Considering my relationship with him, it’s one of my greatest prizes I studied with him, but one of my greatest regrets is I had these tapes of me and Charles back in 1971 that I had stashed in one of my mother and father’s closets in one of the residences they lived in, but I can’t find them. I think Charles more than anyone embraced me, I was only 19, 20 years old, but he embraced everything about me. Other people might have said my embouchure wasn’t right, but Charles said keep doing what you’re doing, and not to be distracted by people who were trying to “teach” the right way. There is no right way, you have to find your own right way. Charles was a unique alto player, he had his own sense of folk melodies and rhythms, equally masterful on the alto sax as the baritone sax, and I will never forget certain melodies. Charles taught me this melody ‘Spanish Gathering’, with an almost nursery rhyme-like vibe. Unfortunately when I parted from Charles I never had the chance to be in his presence again, and he died not too long after. He died too soon. That Voyage From Jericho, well, it’s some voyage on there.