John Coltrane discovered Pharoah Sanders playing at New York’s Village Gate in ’63. Shortly thereafter, Sanders began playing the tenor sax in a uniquely shrill split-reed voice alongside Coltrane during an avant-garde period characterized by “cosmic” themes influenced by, most notably, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler. Two years into this “second quartet” project, Coltrane died, forcing Sanders pursue a solo career. He briefly collaborated with Coltrane’s widow and former pianist, Alice, before leading his own band. At this stage, Sander’s band drew heavily upon the avant-garde and cosmic influences of the “second quartet” as well as African scales and rhythms.
Jewels of Thought was recorded in ’69 and has since been largely forgotten. I found a dusty copy of it on vinyl a few months ago. Apparently, Hum-Allah was my mother’s favorite song around the time when it was released. According the record cover, Pahroah Sanders plays the tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet, reed flute, African thumb piano, and percussion. He is accompanied by Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Richard Davis, Cecil McBee, Idris Muhammad, and Roy Hanes.
"Peace is the will of the people / and the will of the land
With peace we can move ahead together"
1 comment:
sweet song
Post a Comment