Pharoah Sanders Music

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.

For those not familiar with P. Sanders, this is a reasonable introduction to the smooth and melodic aspect of this jazz legend. This is a more upbeat album that can be enjoyed by a larger audience although the last selection is strictly meditative. Those more interested in Sanders range can try other albums but must be ready for his expression which is unlike most. He is one of a very few living legends who learned directly from the master J. Coltrane.

One of those albums you'd like to love more than you actually do, Pharoah Sanders' "Shukuru" is noteworthy as being the album that reunited Sanders with vocalist Leon Thomas, who sang on some of Sanders' most indearing and powerful compositions-- among them the legendary "The Creator Has a Masterplan".

Thomas actually only joins the band (William Henderson on keyboard, Ray Drummond on bass and Idris Muhammed on drums) on two tracks-- "Mas in Brooklyn (Highlife)" and "Sun Song". The former gets a full calyso reading complete with steel drum sounds and chanted vocals traded between Sanders and Thomas. It's a lot of fun, but by and large, throwaway. The latter is one of the true gems on the album-- a pretty ballad that serves as both a launching point for Sanders' best balladry and Thomas' vocal, with the latter soaring in his upper register wordlessly between verses intoned in his trademark baritone. It's by and large simply stunning.

The rest of the record has got its issues however, and by and large this comes in the part of Henderson's synthesizer-- while his piano tone is virtually indistinguishable from an acoustic piano, several tracks receive irritating synth vocals or strings (it's really hard to tell which, it's fairly indistinct and obnoxious), mangling otherwise fine performances of traditional tenor feature "Body and Soul", Sanders-penned "Jitu" (although admittedly the leader manages such a powerful solo it gets past it) and an absolutely breathtaking reading of "Too Young to Go Steady". In fact, were these synths absent, I suspect I'd think much higher of the album, but they're so intrusive they disturb my ability to enjoy this. At least opener "Shukuru" and closing funereal piece "For Big George" are spared this as the use of synths of them are far more tasteful (although one questions Sanders' choice to intone his wife's name over the former's smokey lines, but that's another story).

In the end, it's an album that comes from its era-- five stars if it didn't have irritating synths, Sanders is in top form and several of the pieces are superb.

pharoah teams up with leon thomas once again - sheer beauty

the biggest surprise of all is the final track - a slow dirge based on the spiritual "going home" -worth the price just for this one cut - completely different to anything i have heard Pharoah record before - and i have over 30 albums under his leadership

i recommend you buy this cd wholeheartedly

I saw this unit at the Montreal Jazz fest a few years ago and it was one of the best shows I've ever attended. I think the show I saw was better than this CD but nevertheless a great acquisition if you like free style jazz.

It seems so rare that a musician would maintain his fire into his third or fourth decade of music, and indeed, when one looks at Pharoah Sanders-- who pushed John Coltrane to his freeist and performed some of the greatest "fire music" of the late '60s and early '70s, one expects much the same, particularly in light of his willingness to explore other musical opportunities after his free jazz explorations had run their course. But one thing about Sanders is that he always maintained his fire, and his passion for exploration kept him looking. In the mid-90s, Sanders began a more organized and detailed investigation of world music and percussion. This set, recorded live in 1998, finds Sanders (primarily on tenor sax) in the company of trap drummer/tablaist Hamid Drake and percussionist/hand drummer Adam Rudolph. The results are simply astounding.

Feeling very much like a stripped down version of Bill Laswell-fueled "Message From Home" and "Save Our Children", the music by and large consists of Sanders improvising over a surface of percussion. Drake and Rudolph set up an amazing backdrop for him and Sanders is clearly inspired by the percussionists on this three-suite performance.

The opening suite (documented on the first track, "Sunrise") finds the trio in a meditative mood-- Sanders summons forth all his balladry, delicately stating the theme over drone and simple percussion, occasionally vocalizing rather than playing. It's one of those pieces that after nearly twenty minutes, you wish it'd keep going. This moves into the most jazz-inflected part of the performance-- a theme that feels related to Monk's "Well You Needn't" (something I noted in reviewing my Sanders CDs is how closely to Monk his songwriting tends to be) is stated over syncopated percussion before Sanders begins freely (and fiercely!) associating over the percussion backdrop.

The third suite is the most unique-- the percussion is taken down a notch to a more tribal and subtle, quieter feel and the leads are taken down with it, from overblows, gentle keenings, and flutes, occasionally coming to a boil and keeping attention but by and large sitting closer to a world vein than a jazz one. By the time it (and the hour long CD) wraps up, you're left wanting more.

For those familiar only with Sanders' early catalog, this may be a good place to begin exploring his later work, certainly it is a downright superb album. Highly recommended.

Pharoah just keeps getting better and better! So many of the avant-gard musicians of his generation have fallen away...some into bitterness, some into obscurity (where is Marion Brown now? He was a hell of a player!) and some have embraced other roads such as jazz-fusion, smooth jazz, or neo-traditionalism. Pharoah has touched all of these trends at some point or another, but he has remained totally himself, deeply committed to what ever he does, exploratory and at the bottom of it all, a spiritual force to be reckoned with.

Spirits shows that, despite the more traditional albums he's made in the 90's and despite the occasional forays into smooth jazz territory, he remains capable of raising the hair on the back of your neck, and transporting you somewhere else. This recording is taken from a live concert (though the liner notes don't say where) and features Sanders, the marvelous Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake on trap set and ethnic drums, and Adam Rudolph, a multiethnic percussionist and overtone singer. The results are magical. The album lists 10 numbers, but most of the pieces meld seamlessly into each other. The first and last cut are in Sanders "Eastern Tone Poem" style, utilizing drones and Indian instruments to create very beautiful and meditative works. But then, watch out! The pieces morph from the good natured to the completely out. The Thousand Petalled Lotus is a particular standout. It leaves you breathless!

One of the things that I think gets missed so much when people listen to this sort of avant-garde music is that the music isn't about chaos, or anger, or neurotism. It's religious and it's roots are deep in African American culture and back even farther. If you listen to field recordings of Yoruba ceremonies, or their descendents in Brazil or Cuba, the sounds that Pharoah makes aren't so far fetched. Michael Tucker says in his impressive book Dreaming With Open Eyes, that the contemporary musician, particularly the contemporary jazz musician, is at heart a shaman, and the music isn't negative....it's uplifting. This certainly holds true in this work. Pharoah is a master shaman...his music is really about peace and healing, even at it's most tempestous. The best way to experience it is to just let yourself go, not to cerebrate about it, but to let it infect you and transport you. If you can do that, then the love and depth of the music will become self-evident.

Peace to all who listen to this marvelous stuff.

This concert, recorded in 1998 shows all three to be at the top of their game. The nearly 20 minute opening cut is absolutely beautiful. This is followed by "Morning" which is some what funky in parts-Morning fuses into the album's most intense cut "Thousand petalled Lotus." Drake and Rudolph are a superb percussion team. This set would be essential without Pharoah's contributions but man-Pharoah is on!

Its nice to hear Sanders in a less "produced" environment were the players personalities really shine.