Pharoah Sanders Music

This is a Sanders'cd I would recommend to all those who have heard of Sanders as a wild musician,shrieking through the saxophone. Here,he is in a very mellow, ,not to say soft ,mood.Religiosity or more accurately,spirituality permeates all the numbers on this cd.He reminds us of an evening service in a protestant church. Even those who are not fanatic jazz fans but like music with rythm should enjoy this cd which is definitely,one of the best this African-American Griot has produced.

As a fan of jazz in its mellower forms I really dig "Priceless Jazz by Pharoah Sanders". Along with albums such as Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue", John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", Charles Mingus's "Mingus Ah Um" and Dave Brubeck's "Time Out", this sampler CD is essential listening. Most of the songs on "Priceless" are spacey and meditative. I'm not so thrilled by the blues-inflected and busy "Bluesin' For John C." (though I know 'where he's coming from'), the oriental flavored "Japan" or the free-form "The Promise" so I've subtracted a couple of stars. The rest of the tracks are gems with "The Creator Has A Master Plan" being the high point for me. If albums like "[...] Brew" by Miles are a bit much, a bit too 'difficult listening' (to borrow a phrase from avant garde popster Laurie Anderson), then this CD is for you.

I am just discovering Pharoah Sanders and I love it. The song I remember from long ago was "The Creator has a master plan" and I was searching just for that song, when I stumbled upon a whole new world. Definitely worth giving a try, I don't regret it.

...this is an excellent cd to jus sit back and meditate to...and it may be true that this doesnt truly represent brother pharoah's full catalogue of material, it represents some good, relaxin jazz music jus the same...this cd could have sixty minutes of hog-callin and i would still give it five stars jus for 'the creator has a master plan'...

This was the first Pharoah Sanders CD I ever bought, and I guess it accomplished its purpose; it made me want to hear everything he did. On that level this CD is a success. But on another level, it's not satisfactory, because mostly it focuses on Pharoah's lyrical side and his more or less straight-ahead work. That's only a part of Sanders' music. A new-age fan might love this CD but then be utterly frightened by albums like Karma and Thembi, where Sanders takes you on a trip through meditative music to furious free jazz energy and back again. Pharoah's free jazz energy work is just not fairly represented here. I love his multiphonic screaming sessions just as much as I love his lyrical, meditative side, and it's a shame this collection chooses just to focus on his mellower work. It shortchanges a really great artist, which is why I can only give this recording three stars. This CD is a good starter, and for some people it will be sufficient, but for those with adventurous souls, buy "Thembi" or "Karma" and jump in the deep end, and leave this for those who can't swim yet.

This is an eclectic session with a few misfires. I you like Journey to the One you'll like this one.

If I had to pick on Pharoah Sanders disc to take with me to a desert Island, this might be it. There's less drawn out 'noise' than on his impulse records, but this record is still heavily steeped in the avant-garde.

The african juju (or whatever Pharoah calls it here) is really catchy, fast, and almost danceable. Pharoah also pulls off a stunning lovable tribute to Trane (if you can execuse the goofy lyrics).

Moments Notice is my favorite song on the CD. I love the Vocalist George V. Johnson, Jr.... His lyrics and vocals are are the best I've heard in a long time. I'm glad I bought this CD. I'm hoping that Pharoah will record with this truly gifted vocalist again! He Amazing! "His Sounds were Mellow soft and Warm....You'll feel his spirit Hum Along! John Coltrane played Love and Magic! Listen to the message of his song! John Coltrane....glad you came along! WOW!

This follow up to Journey to the One follows many of the same patterns. Varied instrumentation, good and bad vocal tracks. The set start off with a bang. The title cut and the two highlife pieces are alive with soaring energy. Unlike the reviewer below, I find Moments Notice to be a huge bump in the road. The lyrics are cheesey open mike night poetry stuff to me. I can't fault Pharoah for his consistantly positive messages, but this track misses the mark for me. The album finishes with more excellent cuts.

No one, I'm quite confident to declare.

Let's break it down. We'll start with control. Has there ever been a saxophonist with his absolute mastery of the entire range of tenor sax? That's easy. No.

On to tone. Sanders is well known to have practiced playing long tones for hours on end. The result: a purity of tonal expression that somehow goes beyond absolutely centered tones throughout the entire range of his horn into inexpressible territory, which reaches the heart of our listening capability.

Next, diversity of expression. Sanders has the capability to wrest perhaps the widest possible range of emotional content from his horn in the history of jazz--everything from garden variety exuberence to ecstatic religious utterance to goofy blats to heart-renching pathos--often in the same number.

Finally, what we might call "architecture of solo expression." His soloing is nothing if not brilliantly structured, yet absolutely free, all at once. It takes a master of musical intuition and accomplishment to even begin to approach Sanders' majesterial concept and execution.

For me, this disc is, perhaps, the apex in his career. Following on the heels of the glorious Journey to the One, this disc just tops that one by virtue of "Rejoice," the two Highlife numbers (featuring the mysterioso e-bassist, Jorge Pomar), "Ntjilo, Ntjilo/Bird Song," and "Farah," perhaps the finest numbers he has ever recorded in his long and storied career. Add to that the contributions of Joe Bonner, the way underrecorded pianist; vibest extraordinare Bobby Hutcherson; Billy Higgins, the best drummer of his generation; bassist Art Davis; and drum monster Elvin Jones, and you have one of the finest jazz ensembles ever assembled.

The only misstep is the vocal rendition of Coltrane's "Moment's Notice," which, even though I would prefer not to have to listen to it, still has a certain cache that is not entirely unpleasant and even, in a way, sums up a certain vibe floating in the air at the time. Besides, the vocal part constitutes a miniscule portion of the whole, so just deal with it, what?

I feel fortunate to own the original Theresa recording, but I imagine there's little if any difference between this disc and the reissued Evidence disc, and the joy of original-issue ownership is pure nostalgia. Whatever.

Just do it.

Not much to say other than that "Save our Children" ranks among the best Jazz fusion I have heard in a long time.
The combination between the singing, Piano, drums, Tablas, synthesizers and the saxophone of Pharoah Sanders is simply amazing and beautiful to hear. Mr. Sanders shows a beautiful taste in finding new music. Very obviously this man is very hard to musically please.
If you are into some John Mc Laughlin, Santana of the early 70's and Alice Coltrane, this album is highly recommended.
When I thought I will never come across new great Jazz fusion, Pharoah Sanders proved he is one of the best. Save our Children. Bravo Mr. Sanders.

That's right: this is the Pharoah's world-music album. And it succeeds brilliantly (especially in contrast to recent world-music outings by other jazzmen, like Joe Zawinul's "Faces and Places," which is confused, flat and sometimes even "smooth" a la "smooth jazz"). Some purists may be put off by the neo-hip-hop chanting at the front end of the title cut (the only reason I don't rate it 5 stars). But with maestros like Trilok Gurtu (from the later Oregon) and Zakir Hussain (John McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar etc.), both playing tablas & assorted percussion, backing up the sweet, melodious sound of the Pharoah's tenor (especially cut 4, "Kazuko"), how could this album be anything less than brilliant? No way! Check out the North African reed sounds, dry and passionate at the same time, the subtly driving bass, the mysterioso keyboards and Ra-like bells--all on cut 5, "The Ancient Sound." And he never goes outside, with the squealing and wailing often found on his other albums. This CD is truly a "Jewel of Love" in the crown of the Pharoah.

In the mid-1990s, Pharoah Sanders began a movement into a new direction on his studio records, exploring world influences and elements of his past (his time on Impulse!) that he'd neglected for a long while-- it was almost as though Sanders was trying to come to grips with his legacy. With producer Bill Laswell, Sanders had available to him a host of musicians normally outside his sphere who could provide these sorts of rhythms and ideals with a sense of authenticity.

And so, "Save Our Children", an album soaked in Indian, Middle-Eastern and Northern African rhythms appeared, the second (and sadly, last, courtesy of a catalog slash) album by Pharoah Sanders on Verve. With a host of musicians including longtime Sanders pianist William Henderson, Parliament keyboardist (and Laswell regular) Bernie Worrell, bassist Alex Blake, tabla master Zakir Hussein and drummer Trlok Gurtu, Sanders constructed a unique and varied album, wrappd and world percussion, where the presence of Laswell as overseer and Hussein is felt, but understated. This is clearly a Pharoah Sanders album.

The record covers a number of moods, and probably the opener and title track best displays this-- mixing chanted vocals, an African rap, and a positively triumphant vocal harmony-laden chorus over a funky backbeat soaked in percussion with Sanders positively transcendent on soprano sax, the piece is at the same time both light and yet filled with depth (it's also nearly universally hated by everyone else I've ever talked to). Other standouts include "Midnight in Berkeley Square"-- a retake on "A Nightengale Sang in Berkeley Square", with Sanders really getting inside the ballad over a haze, a superb tabla performance and Henderson's framing chords, and "The Ancient Sounds", which finds Sanders over drone then beats, first on an anonymous double reeded instrument then wailing away as freely as he ever has on tenor.

The one even nicer thing about this record is that there's nothing bad or dull-- some of the pieces don't really standout too far ("Far-Off Sand"), but they're all quite listenable. It's not quite a masterpiece, but it's a fine album, well worth investigation for folks who can put Sanders' past behind him and see him as a forward looking musician.

. . . making sure this trancendent music would be heard by as few people as possible. Much to my chagrin, I heeded them and let this ravishing recording languish in the backwaters of my aural soundstream.

What about this disc made the jazz police go ballistic? I think it's its sentimental, heart-on-its-sleave vibe so prominently present on the title cut, with its arm-chair Liberal, arm's-length expression of perfectly legitimate sentiments: a desire to see that the needs of the world's children are met.

What's wrong with this approach is that it's aesthetically inept for the Nobly Liberal Public Virtues the song intends to put forward. Frankly, it's an embarrassment. Ironically, in a strange twist of logic, we're in Shelby Steele territory, where Liberal truisms are exposed for the idiocy they actually are, environs entirely uncongenial to Liberals, who form the vast majority of the jazz police camp.

What's going on here is a naive, unwitting deconstruction of Liberalism's shame concern for burning social issues. Thus, the disc is profoundly politically incorrect because it expresses core Liberal sensibilities in a bathetic, ham-fisted way. But, not being a card-carrying Liberal, I'm free of sham Liberal social orthodoxies, and can thus encounter this music on its own terms, sans the rose-colored Liberal glasses.

What I find here is glorious world jazz of the absolute highest order. Perhaps even better and more fully realized than another Sanders disc, With a Heartbeat, Save the Children operates in a similar vibe and features some of Bill Laswell's richest and most fully realized production. I confess, I'm just completely taken by this disc. Actually, it's probably a little unfair to ground the jazz police's objections to this disc in its naive politics (though I'm pretty convinced that played a prominent part); there's also the wild mixture of (seemingly) alien music aesthetics: Fender Rhodes with tablas and synthesizer drones, deeply sincere (though, admittedly, naive) vocal espressions, and quite simple melodic material.

But you know what? If you've got big enough ears, and can overcome stupid and wrong-headed cultural assumptions, this can be an entirely enjoyable, even revelatory disc. For one thing, it contains brilliant passages of that late-Sanders impossibly rich tenor sax tone, which, for me, would probably work even if he were playing German Polkas or an entire disc of Kenny G compositions. For another, when the Laswell approach works, it tends to work fabulously, as it does here. So forget about the synth washes, the ambient vibe, the politically incorrectness.

Just do it.

This is not a Jazz album. This is not an album to have as background music. This is not a hip-hop venture to capture the ears of a younger audience. This is the world class drumming of Trilok Gurtu, beyond duplication. This the incredible fluid and furious bass lines of Charnet Moffett. This the unique production quality of Bill Laswell, one of his better more focused efforts, without question. This is the freaky deaky sounds from the Mothership Connection as provided by Bernie Warell, (yet another original.) This album is full of the whose who of unique progressive musicians to date. The effort is focused on creating new unique spiritual music with plenty of cosmic extacy. Pharoah is saying more with his playing at this point in his career than he ever had before. Critics will always hold on to their personal past associations as a measuring stick for new invention that has little to do with the past. This CD is like nothing you have ever heard before. So get over it!
I am now my second copy of this CD. I can't get enough of it.