egroj world: Pharoah Sanders • Pharoah

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Pharoah Sanders • Pharoah

Biography by Chris Kelsey
Tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was among the most important contributors to the evolution of spiritual jazz, creating emotionally complex and uncompromisingly passionate music for over 60 years. Sanders got his start playing alongside John Coltrane in the mid-'60s, just as Coltrane's playing was turning to more chaotic free jazz expressions, and Sanders carried over some of that same euphoric upheaval into his own albums. Across multiple classics he recorded for the Impulse label in the late '60s and early '70s, however, Sanders incorporated elements of world music and even more pop-adjacent vocalizations into his sometimes chaotic style, crossing over to audiences who weren't primarily jazz listeners with the poetic mysticism of 1969's Karma or the sociopolitical sentiments of 1971's Black Unity. He remained highly active throughout the '80s and '90s, his sound mellowing somewhat into patient but no less powerful form on albums like 1987's Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong. Though his output slowed in the new millennium, Sanders would continue performing and recording into his eighties, collaborating with electronic producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra on 2021's critically acclaimed album Promises.

Pharoah Sanders was born Ferrell Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1940. Both his mother and father taught music, his mother privately and his father in public schools. His first instrument was the clarinet, but he switched to tenor sax as a high school student, under the influence of his band director, Jimmy Cannon, who also exposed Sanders to jazz for the first time. His early favorites included Harold Land, James Moody, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. As a teenager, he played blues gigs for 10 and 15 dollars a night around Little Rock, backing such blues greats as Bobby "Blue" Bland and Junior Parker. After high school, Sanders moved to Oakland, California, where he lived with relatives. He attended Oakland Junior College, studying art and music. Known in the San Francisco Bay Area as "Little Rock," he soon began playing bebop, rhythm & blues, and free jazz with many of the region's finest musicians, including fellow saxophonists Dewey Redman and Sonny Simmons, as well as pianist Ed Kelly and drummer Smiley Winters.

In 1961, Sanders moved to New York, where he struggled. Unable to make a living with his music, he took to pawning his horn, working nonmusical jobs, and sometimes sleeping on the subway. During this period, he played with a number of free jazz luminaries, including Sun Ra, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins. Sanders formed his first group in 1963, with pianist John Hicks (with whom he would continue to play off-and-on into the '90s), bassist Wilbur Ware, and drummer Higgins. When the group played an engagement at New York's Village Gate, a member of the audience was John Coltrane, who apparently liked what he heard. In late 1964, Coltrane asked Sanders to sit in with his band. By the next year, he was playing regularly with the Coltrane group, although he was never made an official member of the band. Coltrane's ensembles with Sanders were some of the most controversial in the history of jazz. Their music, as represented by the group's recordings -- Om, Live at the Village Vanguard Again, and Live in Seattle among them -- represents a near total desertion of traditional jazz concepts, like swing and functional harmony in favor of a teeming, irregularly structured, organic mixture of sound for sound's sake. Strength was a necessity in that band, and as Coltrane soon realized, Sanders had it in abundance.

Sanders made his first record as a leader in 1964 for the ESP label. After Coltrane's death in 1967, Sanders worked briefly with his widow, Alice Coltrane. From the late '60s on, however, he worked primarily as a leader of his own ensembles. From 1966 to 1971, he released several albums on Impulse including Tauhid (1966), Karma (1969), Black Unity (1971), and Thembi (1971). In the mid-'70s he recorded his most commercial effort, Love Will Find a Way (Arista, 1977); it turned out to be a brief detour. From the late '70s until 1987, he recorded for the small independent label Theresa. Starting in 1987, Sanders recorded for the Evidence and Timeless labels. The former bought Theresa Records in 1991 and subsequently re-released Sanders' output for that company.

In 1995, he made his first major-label album in many years, Message from Home (produced by Bill Laswell for Verve). The two followed that one up in 1999 with Save Our Children. In 2000, Sanders released Spirits -- a multi-ethnic live suite with Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph. In the decades after his first recordings with Coltrane, Sanders developed into a more well-rounded artist, capable of playing convincingly in a variety of contexts, from free to mainstream.

Throughout the 2000s, Sanders played the festival circuit and collaborated on record with various artists including Sleep Walker, Chicago Underground, Joey DeFrancesco, and others. In 2015, he was granted an NEA Jazz Master Award, along with Gary Burton, Wendy Oxenhorn, and Archie Shepp. It is North America's highest award for the genre. In 2020, an archival concert performance was released as Live in Paris (1975). The next year, Sanders worked with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra on an album of entirely new material called Promises. Released in March 2021, the record was met with almost universal critical praise. It proved to be the last album he would release in his lifetime. Pharoah Sanders died on September 24, 2022, at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 81.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pharoah-sanders-mn0000330601#biography

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Biografía de Chris Kelsey
El saxofonista tenor Pharoah Sanders estuvo entre los contribuyentes más importantes a la evolución del jazz espiritual, creando música emocionalmente compleja e intransigentemente apasionada durante más de 60 años. Sanders comenzó a tocar junto a John Coltrane a mediados de los 60, justo cuando la interpretación de Coltrane se estaba volviendo hacia expresiones de free jazz más caóticas, y Sanders llevó parte de esa misma agitación eufórica a sus propios álbumes. Sin embargo, a través de múltiples clásicos que grabó para el sello Impulse a fines de los 60 y principios de los 70, Sanders incorporó elementos de world music e incluso vocalizaciones más adyacentes al pop en su estilo a veces caótico, cruzando a audiencias que no eran principalmente oyentes de jazz con el misticismo poético de Karma de 1969 o los sentimientos sociopolíticos de Black Unity de 1971. Se mantuvo muy activo durante los años 80 y 90, su sonido se suavizó un poco hasta convertirse en una forma paciente pero no menos poderosa en álbumes como Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong de 1987. Aunque su producción se desaceleró en el nuevo milenio, Sanders continuaría actuando y grabando hasta los ochenta, colaborando con el productor electrónico Floating Points y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Londres en el álbum Promises, aclamado por la crítica en 2021.

El faraón Sanders nació como Ferrell Sanders en Little Rock, Arkansas, en 1940. Tanto su madre como su padre enseñaban música, su madre en privado y su padre en escuelas públicas. Su primer instrumento fue el clarinete, pero cambió al saxo tenor cuando era estudiante de secundaria, bajo la influencia del director de su banda, Jimmy Cannon, quien también expuso a Sanders al jazz por primera vez. Sus primeros favoritos incluían a Harold Land, James Moody, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker y John Coltrane. Cuando era adolescente, tocaba blues por 10 y 15 dólares la noche en Little Rock, respaldando a grandes del blues como Bobby "Blue" Bland y Junior Parker. Después de la secundaria, Sanders se mudó a Oakland, California, donde vivió con familiares. Asistió al Oakland Junior College, estudiando arte y música. Conocido en el área de la Bahía de San Francisco como "Little Rock", pronto comenzó a tocar bebop, rhythm & blues y free jazz con muchos de los mejores músicos de la región, incluidos los saxofonistas Dewey Redman y Sonny Simmons, así como el pianista Ed Kelly y el baterista Smiley Winters.

En 1961, Sanders se mudó a Nueva York,donde luchó. Incapaz de ganarse la vida con su música, se dedicó a empeñar su trompa, a realizar trabajos no musicales y, a veces, a dormir en el metro. Durante este período, tocó con varias luminarias del free jazz, incluidos Sun Ra, Don Cherry y Billy Higgins. Sanders formó su primer grupo en 1963, con el pianista John Hicks (con quien continuaría tocando ocasionalmente hasta los años 90), el bajista Wilbur Ware y el baterista Higgins. Cuando el grupo tocó en un compromiso en Village Gate de Nueva York, un miembro de la audiencia era John Coltrane, a quien aparentemente le gustó lo que escuchó. A finales de 1964, Coltrane le pidió a Sanders que se sentara con su banda. Para el año siguiente, tocaba regularmente con el grupo Coltrane, aunque nunca fue nombrado miembro oficial de la banda. Los conjuntos de Coltrane con Sanders fueron algunos de los más controvertidos en la historia del jazz. Su música, representada por las grabaciones del grupo (Om, Live at the Village Vanguard Nuevamente, y Live in Seattle entre ellos) representa una deserción casi total de los conceptos tradicionales del jazz , como el swing y la armonía funcional, en favor de una mezcla orgánica abundante, irregularmente estructurada, de sonido por el sonido. La fuerza era una necesidad en esa banda, y como Coltrane pronto se dio cuenta, Sanders la tenía en abundancia.

Sanders grabó su primer disco como líder en 1964 para el sello ESP. Después de la muerte de Coltrane en 1967, Sanders trabajó brevemente con su viuda, Alice Coltrane. Sin embargo, a partir de finales de los 60, trabajó principalmente como líder de sus propios conjuntos. De 1966 a 1971, lanzó varios álbumes en Impulse, incluidos Tauhid (1966), Karma (1969), Black Unity (1971) y Thembi (1971). A mediados de los 70 grabó su esfuerzo más comercial, Love Will Find a Way (Arista, 1977); resultó ser un breve desvío. Desde finales de los 70 hasta 1987, grabó para el pequeño sello independiente Theresa. A partir de 1987, Sanders grabó para los sellos Evidence y Timeless. El primero compró Theresa Records en 1991 y posteriormente relanzó la producción de Sanders para esa compañía.

En 1995, hizo su primer álbum con un sello importante en muchos años, Message from Home (producido por Bill Laswell para Verve). Los dos siguieron a ese en 1999 con Save Our Children. En 2000, Sanders lanzó Spirits, una suite en vivo multiétnica con Hamid Drake y Adam Rudolph. En las décadas posteriores a sus primeras grabaciones con Coltrane, Sanders se convirtió en un artista más completo, capaz de tocar de manera convincente en una variedad de contextos, desde el libre hasta el mainstream.

A lo largo de la década de 2000, Sanders tocó en el circuito de festivales y colaboró en grabaciones con varios artistas, incluidos Sleep Walker, Chicago Underground, Joey DeFrancesco y otros. En 2015, recibió un premio NEA Jazz Master, junto con Gary Burton, Wendy Oxenhorn y Archie Shepp. Es el premio más alto de América del Norte para el género. En 2020, se lanzó una presentación de concierto de archivo como Live in Paris (1975). Al año siguiente, Sanders trabajó con Floating Points y la Orquesta Sinfónica de Londres en un álbum de material completamente nuevo llamado Promises. Lanzado en marzo de 2021, el disco recibió elogios críticos casi universales. Resultó ser el último álbum que lanzaría en su vida. El faraón Sanders murió el 24 de septiembre de 2022 en su casa de Los Ángeles a la edad de 81 años.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pharoah-sanders-mn0000330601#biography

Tracks:
1 - Harvest Time - 20:50
2 - Love Will Find A Way - 14:30
3 - Memories Of Edith Johnson - 5:00

Credits:
    Bass – Steve Neil
    Drums – Greg Bandy
    Guitar – Munoz
    Harmonium – Bedria Sanders
    Organ – Jiggs Chase
    Percussion – Lawrence Killian
    Tenor Saxophone, Vocals, Percussion, Composed By – Pharoah Sanders

Recorded August & September, 1976

Label:    India Navigation – IN 1027 CD
Released:    1996
Genre:    Jazz
Style:    Soul-Jazz
https://www.discogs.com/release/3740240-Pharoah-Sanders-Pharoah