A forgotten major work from one of jazz’s forgotten heroes of the progressive flank is at last widely available. Charles Tyler’s 1975 release Voyage From Jericho documents a turning point in a career marked by being present and participating in the front lines of out-jazz without garnering the recognition accorded to his fellow warriors in the breach.
Playing primarily alto saxophone, Tyler grew up first embracing bebop but by his early twenties he was part of the emerging free jazz scene. Tyler met Albert Ayler as a teenager and moved to new York in the mid-60s to record Spirits Rejoice and Bells under Ayler’s leadership. Shortly afterwards, Tyler cut a couple of records of his own around that time for ESP-Disk, then went into hiatus as a recording artist for seven years.
During this ‘silent’ period, Tyler moved from the sixties New Thing movement to the Loft scene of the early seventies. He put together an ensemble and workshopped some new tunes that reflect his altered outlook. Two of these musicians were plucked from Sun Ra’s Arkestra: bassist Ronnie Boykins and trumpeter Earl Cross, prominent members of the free jazz movement who each recorded only a single album under their names before passing away. Drummer Steve Reid had also worked with Sun Ra, as well as Miles Davis and James Brown; he even jammed with his neighbor John Coltrane. Another alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe joined the quartet for the first and final tracks to add his alto; he was fresh off a five year stint with Horace Tapscott at that time. So everyone in the band had deep ties to the more creative currents of jazz in the prior decade and were well qualified to bring it forward from there.
Tyler still saw jazz as a vessel for effecting social change but the fire of the 60s made way for a reflective mood in the 70s and now his music carried more soul, more spirituality … and more melody. And yet, he didn’t forsake anything he championed in the prior decade, he merely brought more subtlety and maturity to it. The marching, sing-song Middle Eastern theme that opens “Voyage From Jericho” are echoes of Ayler, but soon the band launches into a fast, bop flow and it’s Blythe who takes the first shots, on alto sax, cutting it up in front of Reid’s explosive mini-fills and Boykins’ unmovable foundation. Cross butts in and takes charge, blasting with confidence and jaw-dropping nimbleness. Finally, Tyler takes the reigns on baritone, a brawny and brash attack that like the two guys ahead of him, sprinkled his solos to short references back to the theme.
“Return To The East” is also a nod to non-Western music forms with its Arabian style strain, something that Tyler experimented with back in the 60s, but with more spiritual intent. Pivoting to his primary instrument the alto saxophone, Tyler lyrically dances on Boykins’ supple bass line; Reid even makes it funky. Cross takes over and pours out a progression of notes that flows like a narration. Boykins get his turn, which he uses to go arco on his bass and show complete mastery with it.
Cross contributed “Just For Two,” an uncomplicated number but the head is catchy and joyful; Boykins’ bass is virtually smiling as the composer, leader and drummer slash through their solos. Tyler uses “Children’s Music March” to go off on the baritone sax with an articulation that takes chances but somehow stays tethered to the main motif.
Blythe returns for “Surf Ravin,” where Boykins’ elite ability to center a tangled melody/rhythm combination makes the difficult sound easy. Since Tyler is a second alto saxophone this time, it’s easier to draw a contrast to the approaches of him and Blythe. As it turns out, they complement each other well even as both are rightfully recognized as major forces in the style of avant-garde of jazz that was prevalent in the 70s.
Charles Tyler made these recordings with the idea of submitting them as demos to Prestige Records, but the record company deemed them too out there for their tastes, which prompted Tyler to start up his own label — AK-BA Records — so he can get this music out to the public. Alas, he could only afford to produce a limited run and the album became a hard-to-obtain cult classic for the limited circle of avant-garde jazz fanatics who actually knew of its existence.
In December 2025 some fifty years after the original release, Frederiksberg Records gave Voyage from Jericho its long-needed vinyl reissue as well as its first official digital release, making this forgotten masterwork more widely available for the first time.
Get Voyage from Jericho on vinyl or digital from Bandcamp.
*** Charles Tyler CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
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