Pharoah Sanders Music

Please don't consider this a "tribute" CD to Trane. Pharoah Sanders is an absolute master of the tenor sax in his own right. He's earned it. Lonnie's lament makes me cry when I hear it...this man is deep. Great tone and phrasing. Please give him and his wonderful band the respect and admiration they all deserve. Amazing music, amazing talent.

Pharoah Sanders has released a fair few albums in his time, and for those that are only recently starting to get into his work, it can be a little daunting knowing where to start. Most people will steer you towards albums such as: "Karma" / "Rejoice" / "Africa" / "Welcome to Love" / "Thembi", etc.....fantastic choices all of them, but his 1992 "Crescent with Love" album, is sometimes criminally overlooked. Maybe because it's generally, a far more contemplative and subdued album than he is normally associated with. The mood here, is less of the Coltrane-esque, Saxophone wailing and screeches , and in comes a set that is by turns, organic, intimate, elegant and soothing. With Pharoah proving himself to be a master of mood and atmosphere, intertwined with a caressing tenor sound, that is given towards a sparer and looser sound than usual. There is a tangible melancholic mood to this sublime 2 disk album, with Pharoah displaying a restrained confidence and warmth, that for those listeners that are only familiar with Pharoah's work, via albums like "Karma" & "Africa" with be pleasantly surprised with this sorely underrated masterpiece.

Tracks such as "Lonnies Lament", "Softly for Shyla" & "After the Rain" emphasise this mood, with strong piano accompaniments, sitting comfortably Pharoahs muted Sax performance. It's all such a beautifully rendered set, that unless you see the cd case with your own eyes, you'd be doubtful as to whether this is actually the work of Coltrane's student. It's an album that is unhurried and tempo, and reflective in mood, and considering the majority of Pharoahs work, ultimately a more introspective and insular album. Pharoah beautifully textures alongside the gentle piano compositions, and nocturnal bass and drums with his staggeringly expressive Saxaphone. It actually has far more in common with Ike Quebec's astonishing "Blue and Sentimental" album, in that it swaps exuberance for something altogether more inward looking. There are a couple of tracks that do break out of the laid-back mood, with both "Wise one" and "Crescent" both being slightly more energised, and this will please those that love his earlier work. But for the rest of us, this is a understated album, that needs to be listed amongst Pharoah finest albums, and one of his most remarkable directions in performance.

Okay, so he's not the firebreather he was during the 60's, but certainly no one can bring more to the table than Pharoah Sanders when it comes to doing a Coltrane tribute album. Even if the album contains chestnuts like "Misty", the ripeness and authority of Sanders' playing transcends criticism, and with the three other players succesfully invokes the sound of the (Garrison,Tyner, Jones) classic quartet without being imitative. Much recommended, a tender and respectful tribute to a man and an era.

Ever wander how Trane would have sounded had he not died so young? This album may hold the answer. Pharoah Sanders may be the most spiritually deep saxophonist alive today. Throughout most of the 90's Sanders has been delving more deeply into the sound world of his mentor Coltrane. Unlike younger musicians, Trane's influence has deepened Sanders creativity, not frozen it. Close your eyes and you'd think Trane was in the room, but a Trane deepened by the passage of time.

Not that Pharoah is a mere imitator. This is deeply personal music, played with deep love. But the Sanders trademark multiphonics are still present, controlled yet still with a rough edge. There are moments on this CD that can make you weep. Sander's playing on The Light at the Edge of the World is breathtaking. And Too Young to Go Steady is heartbreakingly nostalgic. This is great rainy Sunday afternoon music. It is beautiful and moody and the best tribute album I've ever heard.

Buy it now if you are a fan of great tenor playing...even if you are afraid of Pharoah from the 60's albums. Any jazz fan would love this recording!

First off, we are very lucky to have Pharoah Sanders, late in his career, in such a setting--the classic sax-piano-bass-drums format. Lately, he seems to prefer a more world-jazz approach, often amid the--uneven, it must be admitted--soundscapes of Bill Laswell. Don't get me wrong. I have no complaints about his late career choices. I find his gravitation toward world-jazz perfectly appropriate and often spectacular in its results.

Personally, I don't think the right approach to the music contained on Crescent with Love is to consider it a Coltrane tribute. Rather, it represents for me some kind of ur-Sanders presentation of the glories of the tenor sax. I admit that for a long time I thought of it in terms of a Coltrane tribute. And it didn't work for me. I really couldn't listen to it. I had expectations for the music that just weren't there. It was only when I begin to see it as a kind of ultimate exercise by Sanders into the fabulous capability of the tenor sax to produce simply ravishing sounds that I began to see its genius.

Make no mistake. Pharoah Sanders is the greatest player of the tenor sax ever. No one will ever surpass his ability to get the most out of his instrument from a shear brilliance of tone perspective. He is the absolute master. So in a sense, his career has always been about finding the right context to properly expose his tonal mastery. But isn't this a somewhat shallow and reductionistic way to consider this man's music? No, I don't think so.

Because Sanders is all about allowing emotional depth to be a natural result of his technical mastery, not about conjuring up feeling for its own sake. Thus, when I listen to his absolutely absorbing rendering of that incredibly overrecorded standard, Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood," I find myself first drawn in by his ravishing tone, then enfolded in the tune's inherent poignancy, in a way that I've never been with another player. In other words, feeling becomes an outworking of a technique so profound, so overwhelming, that one's only response is yield to the inherent emotional depth of the tune.

The genius of this approach is perhaps most on display on Coltrane's "Wise One." Taken at a leisurely pace, sans pyrotechnics, Sanders (and the quartet) allows the inherent beauty of the tune to naturally unfold, as it were. This is so far removed from the deconstructionist tendencies (of which I, generally, am a fan) that rule modern jazz as to render Sanders almost an archaic figure. And that's how he comes across, if we simply regard this disc as a "tribute." It's only when we take him on his own terms that his genius come fully to the fore.

A note about his bandmates. These players, long time Sanders associates--William Henderson on piano, Charles Fambrough on bass, and Sherman Fergson on drums--are by no means considered to be absolutely top-shelf players (save perhaps Fambrough, and he has struggled to find fulfilling contexts for his monster chops). Yet they consistently provide the ideal playing enviornment for Sanders--and not in the mail-in-your-chops way that Sonny Rollins' bandmates for the last ten years seem to have done. Henderson, especially, seems perfectly attuned to the Sanders esthetic. He's always spot on with his glorious singing tone, understated yet provocative solos, and expansive comping.

I have to admit I've neglected this disc somewhat, but it's because I couldn't get proper access to it. Like me, if you jettison the Coltrane tribute approach, I think you'll find it much more naturally reveals its inherent genius.

Please don't consider this a "tribute" CD to Trane. Pharoah Sanders is an absolute master of the tenor sax in his own right. He's earned it. Lonnie's lament makes me cry when I hear it...this man is deep. Great tone and phrasing. Please give him and his wonderful band the respect and admiration they all deserve. Amazing music, amazing talent.

Pharoah Sanders has released a fair few albums in his time, and for those that are only recently starting to get into his work, it can be a little daunting knowing where to start. Most people will steer you towards albums such as: "Karma" / "Rejoice" / "Africa" / "Welcome to Love" / "Thembi", etc.....fantastic choices all of them, but his 1992 "Crescent with Love" album, is sometimes criminally overlooked. Maybe because it's generally, a far more contemplative and subdued album than he is normally associated with. The mood here, is less of the Coltrane-esque, Saxophone wailing and screeches , and in comes a set that is by turns, organic, intimate, elegant and soothing. With Pharoah proving himself to be a master of mood and atmosphere, intertwined with a caressing tenor sound, that is given towards a sparer and looser sound than usual. There is a tangible melancholic mood to this sublime 2 disk album, with Pharoah displaying a restrained confidence and warmth, that for those listeners that are only familiar with Pharoah's work, via albums like "Karma" & "Africa" with be pleasantly surprised with this sorely underrated masterpiece.

Tracks such as "Lonnies Lament", "Softly for Shyla" & "After the Rain" emphasise this mood, with strong piano accompaniments, sitting comfortably Pharoahs muted Sax performance. It's all such a beautifully rendered set, that unless you see the cd case with your own eyes, you'd be doubtful as to whether this is actually the work of Coltrane's student. It's an album that is unhurried and tempo, and reflective in mood, and considering the majority of Pharoahs work, ultimately a more introspective and insular album. Pharoah beautifully textures alongside the gentle piano compositions, and nocturnal bass and drums with his staggeringly expressive Saxaphone. It actually has far more in common with Ike Quebec's astonishing "Blue and Sentimental" album, in that it swaps exuberance for something altogether more inward looking. There are a couple of tracks that do break out of the laid-back mood, with both "Wise one" and "Crescent" both being slightly more energised, and this will please those that love his earlier work. But for the rest of us, this is a understated album, that needs to be listed amongst Pharoah finest albums, and one of his most remarkable directions in performance.

Okay, so he's not the firebreather he was during the 60's, but certainly no one can bring more to the table than Pharoah Sanders when it comes to doing a Coltrane tribute album. Even if the album contains chestnuts like "Misty", the ripeness and authority of Sanders' playing transcends criticism, and with the three other players succesfully invokes the sound of the (Garrison,Tyner, Jones) classic quartet without being imitative. Much recommended, a tender and respectful tribute to a man and an era.

Ever wander how Trane would have sounded had he not died so young? This album may hold the answer. Pharoah Sanders may be the most spiritually deep saxophonist alive today. Throughout most of the 90's Sanders has been delving more deeply into the sound world of his mentor Coltrane. Unlike younger musicians, Trane's influence has deepened Sanders creativity, not frozen it. Close your eyes and you'd think Trane was in the room, but a Trane deepened by the passage of time.

Not that Pharoah is a mere imitator. This is deeply personal music, played with deep love. But the Sanders trademark multiphonics are still present, controlled yet still with a rough edge. There are moments on this CD that can make you weep. Sander's playing on The Light at the Edge of the World is breathtaking. And Too Young to Go Steady is heartbreakingly nostalgic. This is great rainy Sunday afternoon music. It is beautiful and moody and the best tribute album I've ever heard.

Buy it now if you are a fan of great tenor playing...even if you are afraid of Pharoah from the 60's albums. Any jazz fan would love this recording!

First off, we are very lucky to have Pharoah Sanders, late in his career, in such a setting--the classic sax-piano-bass-drums format. Lately, he seems to prefer a more world-jazz approach, often amid the--uneven, it must be admitted--soundscapes of Bill Laswell. Don't get me wrong. I have no complaints about his late career choices. I find his gravitation toward world-jazz perfectly appropriate and often spectacular in its results.

Personally, I don't think the right approach to the music contained on Crescent with Love is to consider it a Coltrane tribute. Rather, it represents for me some kind of ur-Sanders presentation of the glories of the tenor sax. I admit that for a long time I thought of it in terms of a Coltrane tribute. And it didn't work for me. I really couldn't listen to it. I had expectations for the music that just weren't there. It was only when I begin to see it as a kind of ultimate exercise by Sanders into the fabulous capability of the tenor sax to produce simply ravishing sounds that I began to see its genius.

Make no mistake. Pharoah Sanders is the greatest player of the tenor sax ever. No one will ever surpass his ability to get the most out of his instrument from a shear brilliance of tone perspective. He is the absolute master. So in a sense, his career has always been about finding the right context to properly expose his tonal mastery. But isn't this a somewhat shallow and reductionistic way to consider this man's music? No, I don't think so.

Because Sanders is all about allowing emotional depth to be a natural result of his technical mastery, not about conjuring up feeling for its own sake. Thus, when I listen to his absolutely absorbing rendering of that incredibly overrecorded standard, Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood," I find myself first drawn in by his ravishing tone, then enfolded in the tune's inherent poignancy, in a way that I've never been with another player. In other words, feeling becomes an outworking of a technique so profound, so overwhelming, that one's only response is yield to the inherent emotional depth of the tune.

The genius of this approach is perhaps most on display on Coltrane's "Wise One." Taken at a leisurely pace, sans pyrotechnics, Sanders (and the quartet) allows the inherent beauty of the tune to naturally unfold, as it were. This is so far removed from the deconstructionist tendencies (of which I, generally, am a fan) that rule modern jazz as to render Sanders almost an archaic figure. And that's how he comes across, if we simply regard this disc as a "tribute." It's only when we take him on his own terms that his genius come fully to the fore.

A note about his bandmates. These players, long time Sanders associates--William Henderson on piano, Charles Fambrough on bass, and Sherman Fergson on drums--are by no means considered to be absolutely top-shelf players (save perhaps Fambrough, and he has struggled to find fulfilling contexts for his monster chops). Yet they consistently provide the ideal playing enviornment for Sanders--and not in the mail-in-your-chops way that Sonny Rollins' bandmates for the last ten years seem to have done. Henderson, especially, seems perfectly attuned to the Sanders esthetic. He's always spot on with his glorious singing tone, understated yet provocative solos, and expansive comping.

I have to admit I've neglected this disc somewhat, but it's because I couldn't get proper access to it. Like me, if you jettison the Coltrane tribute approach, I think you'll find it much more naturally reveals its inherent genius.

My understatement, of course it's spritual, it's Pharoah Sanders! That being said I find the second track here "let us go into the house of the lord" to be one of his most spiritual tracks. We all hear different things though in Pharoah's music, those of us who know it and love it, some prefer Pools of Thought,some Thembi, others Black Unity, the key is that they are all great, you really can't go wrong with any of his impulse! releases.

This is a really nice album. I was somewhat wary of picking it up due to the fact that Pharoah plays exclusively soprano, but his playing on the smaller horn is just fantastic. The presence of Woody Shaw and Gary Bartz adds a nice texture to the music, though their roles as soloists are pretty minor. Pianist Lonnie Liston Smith has some really nice Tynerish playing. As other reviewers have mentioned, there's little of the yodeling that appears on other Pharoah albums from this period.

The first tune works itself into a frantic modal groove with lots of colorful percussion. It reminds me a lot of McCoy Tyner's work from the early 70s, though there's more collective improvisation on this disc.

The second track is a really magical, beautiful performance of "Let Us Go into the House of the Lord". Arranged much like Coltrane's "Psalm" and "Song of Praise", Pharoah's ecstatic playing frames great solos by Smith and bassist Cecil McBee.

Personally, I like this album more than the better-known Karma. This is the kind of disc that will appeal to fans of McCoy Tyner's early 70s work, Sweetnighter-era Weather Report, or Keith Jarrett's Impulse albums. Recommended!

It's hard to rate Pharoah's Impulse albums. They are all supreme examples of spiritual depth in music. But Deaf, Dumb and Blind may be the greatest in my opinion...perhaps even better than the superb Karma, and that's saying alot.

First of all, the percussion groove on this album really kicks! Sometimes, both on Karma and on Jewels of Thought, the percussion sounds more like a collection of colors, rather than a propelling force. On this CD the percussion is out front, and deeply African in spirit. Propelled by marvelous conga playing from Anthony Wiles and African percussion from Nathaniel Bettis, great trap work by Clifford Jarvis, along with the rest of the ensemble on small percussion, the pieces really cook. Second, the horn section is stellar; Woody Shaw and Gary Bartz. Third, you have the first large scale appearance of Pharoah on soprano, which is every bit as beautiful as his tenor playing. Fourth, (and this may not pertain to everyone) there's no yodelling, or at least very little. I actually like Leon Thomas' contributions to Karma and Jewels, but I know that it puts many people off. This album is all instrumental.

Both cuts on the album are stellar. Summun, Bukmun, Umyun (Deaf, Dumb and Blind) is one of Pharoah's long two chord jams. With the wonderful percussion behind it, the track is both tied to the earth and wandering in the heavens all at once. The second track, Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord is a sublime, out of tempo modal chant. It moves me to tears.

In their time, Pharoah's Impulse albums never got the credit they deserved. Critics either dismissed him as just revamping old Coltrane ideas, or as too involved with the 60s rock ethos. Conservatives felt he was too free and had no traditional chops, and the progressives felt that the unrestrained modalisms of the albums represented a betrayal of the avant-garde energy school and a step back from Pharoah's ground breaking work with Trane. Both sides got Pharoah all wrong. Pharoah was trying to speak peace in a world that just didn't want to hear it...and that meant following his muse, no matter where it led him. It still does mean that for Pharoah, and he still leaves fans confused. Those who want him to retain his fire from the Trane period are disappointed with the ballad albums and the Bill Laswell produced things. Those who want a more mellow Pharoah are shocked by the fire of albums like Spirit. The true mark of Pharoah's genius is that he goes his own way always, no matter what anyone else says.

So snap up this album soon. Word is that the company who owns the Impulse catalogue is thinking of discontinuing the series again, so who knows when you may have the chance again. Work this beautiful needs to be heard.

After the triumph of 1969 and "The Creator Has a Masterplan", Pharoah Sanders entered the studio in the summer of 1970 to record again-- gone from the sessions of the previous year was vocalist Leon Thomas, and the hole left by him is felt.

"Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmum Umyum)", the result of this session, finds an octet performing music similar in tone to last year's "Sun in Aquarius" (off of "Jewels of Thought"). Sanders, eschewing his usual tenor sax in favor of the soprano, wood flutes, and whistles is joined by trumpeter Woody Shaw, altoist Gary Bartz, longtime musical partner pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Clifford Jarvis, and percussionists Nathaniel Bettis and Anthony Wiles. The soaking of percussion (just about everyone is credited with some form of percussion) and Smith's piano phrasing lend some consistency to the sound with previous records, but with Sanders only performing on the straight horn, that deep digging he managed on previous albums is lacking, and certainly at times you think, "wow this would be perfect for that Leon Thomas styled improv" (the attempts at replicating it by Woody Shaw and Nathaniel Bettis fall far short), and while the two extended pieces (one is 21 minutes, the ohter about 18) are both decent listens, neither is particularly attention getting. Admittedly, "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord" fares better than the title track, but Sanders did much better in the past.

Still, if you're craving more after "Karma" and "Jewels of Thought", this is a decent place to look.

Ok let me just anounce that i am actually a dance music producer so i dont normally listen to jazz apart from at college, but as part of the college motto `Broaden your interest' well i thought that i might aswell atleast try to understand jazz.
So i come to this site and had a listen to some of the tunes on offer including this one, and had actually thought it was fairly good due to the rythem of the tunes there is a certain vibe that leaves you feeling jiggy of some sort.
And normally when i listen to jazz it uaually annoise me but this one did not so there fore i rate it quite well, in my opinion its got to be one of the most exciting jazz albums for me anyway, but any jazz fans outthere i recomend this to ya as a taste of something with a bit of zest or VaVaVa VOOM!.

Thanx

I thought the CD was EXCELLENT!! You can clearly hear the influences of the "greats"! It takes years to perfect your craft and Ed Kelly has certainly done that!! And adding Pharoah Saunders was genius! This CD is a true "MUST HAVE!!"

I used to own this album on vinyl. The tune, You've Got To Have Freedom, is worth my getting it on CD. Kelly spends much of the tune comping on the backbeat, a curious but very effective theme that really drives the tune. His solo, which begins and ends with a series of chords played on the one and three, builds and resolves with a beauty and seeming inevitablility or right-ness that I've rarely heard outside of classical music.

By contrast, the solo rendition of "Well You Needn't" shows Kelly's wit. Moving the melody up a minor third to give the tune a 7#9 flavor, he captures just a touch of the absurd. I'm sorry his Sweet Georgia Brown, an equally playful solo from the original LP, apparently isn't included on this CD.

"Black elegance,
Black excellence,
Sweeeeeeeet transcendance,
Prayers on a saxophone:
Creator of the sun, moon and stars,
Of all that is,
Help me to be in Peace
with Your Creation!"

This is one of my favorite Sanders albums. I am glad it is available again. While it was many years out of print, it still resonated in my mind. If you appreciate Pharoah and Coltrane, you will enjoy this!

"Elevation" is an album that fits nicely with much of the rest of Pharoah's Impulse! catalogue. Most of the elements one would expect to find in a Pharoah Sanders album from this period (early 1970s) are here: music that is alternately meditative and furious (some of the best free improv of the period can be found in those loud furious orgiastic moments); chants; tunes that place emphasis on percussion; at least one tune featuring sitar. Add to the mix elements of Nigerian Highlife. He's at the top of his game, and the band plays with that sense of looseness and familiarity that comes with years of working together. Mostly it sounds like a bunch of good friends having a deep, spirited conversation. Well worth picking up. Hopefully "Elevation" will be reissued here in the States.

Recorded in performance at the legendary Ash Grove in Los Angeles over several different September nights in 1973 this Lp captures Pharoah Sanders at the height of his musical powers. Sanders, who played with John Coltrane quite often on this recording sounds like Trane himself. The sax work ranges from meditative and reflective to disturbingly out there on a different plane. As a reflection of life itself which can go from peaceful and beautiful to chaotic and violent in a moments notice the msuic touches all bases. The vast majority is on the peaceful side but I guess Pharoah Sanders has to exorcise his demons or at least demonstrate mankinds ills on occasion. His music can be as tranquill has a sunset over a calm ocean that suddenly becomes stormy, unleashing thunder and lightning and pelting you with torrents of rain; it is still a beautiful sight to behold or in this case to listen to. Although recorded live there is not much audible reaction from the crowd, although on a couple of tracks you can hear the audience, but the band members definitely have hot mics as you can hear them interacting throughout the recording. On "Ore-Se-Rere" Sanders delivers some vocal harmony with the other band members in an African-chant-like fashion underneath some heavy percussion work without one single note on the saxophone! The result is evidence that a good time was had by all. Three of the five songs are Sanders original compostions that have plenty of room for free form improvisation. "The Gathering " is one such jam that begins with some vocal chants and some wild, blitzkrieg tenor work by Sanders that some people would dismiss as screeching and honking on all registers of the instrument but their is a method to Pharoah Sanders's musical madness. As the title implies it is "Elevation" as the music takes you up, up and away, away from the crazy world to eventually reflect in a peaceful state. His sax work has all the markings of his tutelege with John Coltrane. Sanders experiments with diffferent sounds, much like Trane who also incorporated Eastern and African melodies and instruments into the music for a striking effect that is a precursor to the blending of cultures in music in some of todays world music. Sanders is featured on soprano and tenor saxophone for a multilayered sonic sax blast. "Spiritual Blessing" has a calming effect, like a call to prayer Sanders blows through his soprano in a Middle Eastern meditative slow way that allows you to transcend and experience his harmonic bliss. This is a good Sanders recording but if you are new to Pharoah Sanders this might not be the palce to begin your exploration of his music. Since he was well versed and had finished his Trane apprenticeship his own ship was beginning to sail on the sails of Trane. In other words the influence is quite strong and similar to Coltrane's late period. If you are new I recommend listening to a greatest hits package first to see if you like this form of jazz. Although not for everyone it is free form meditative Tranesque music at it's best. Sadly the Ash Grove became ashes. Originally a folk club in the fifties and a place where International music found it 's way into Los Angeles it burned to the ground for a third and final time shortly after this recording was made. All that is left are the memories from those lucky enough to have been there on occasion and a few wonderful recordings reflecting the time period. Recommended for jazz collectors.

"Black elegance,
Black excellence,
Sweeeeeeeet transcendance,
Prayers on a saxophone:
Creator of the sun, moon and stars,
Of all that is,
Help me to be in Peace
with Your Creation!"

This is one of my favorite Sanders albums. I am glad it is available again. While it was many years out of print, it still resonated in my mind. If you appreciate Pharoah and Coltrane, you will enjoy this!

"Elevation" is an album that fits nicely with much of the rest of Pharoah's Impulse! catalogue. Most of the elements one would expect to find in a Pharoah Sanders album from this period (early 1970s) are here: music that is alternately meditative and furious (some of the best free improv of the period can be found in those loud furious orgiastic moments); chants; tunes that place emphasis on percussion; at least one tune featuring sitar. Add to the mix elements of Nigerian Highlife. He's at the top of his game, and the band plays with that sense of looseness and familiarity that comes with years of working together. Mostly it sounds like a bunch of good friends having a deep, spirited conversation. Well worth picking up. Hopefully "Elevation" will be reissued here in the States.

Recorded in performance at the legendary Ash Grove in Los Angeles over several different September nights in 1973 this Lp captures Pharoah Sanders at the height of his musical powers. Sanders, who played with John Coltrane quite often on this recording sounds like Trane himself. The sax work ranges from meditative and reflective to disturbingly out there on a different plane. As a reflection of life itself which can go from peaceful and beautiful to chaotic and violent in a moments notice the msuic touches all bases. The vast majority is on the peaceful side but I guess Pharoah Sanders has to exorcise his demons or at least demonstrate mankinds ills on occasion. His music can be as tranquill has a sunset over a calm ocean that suddenly becomes stormy, unleashing thunder and lightning and pelting you with torrents of rain; it is still a beautiful sight to behold or in this case to listen to. Although recorded live there is not much audible reaction from the crowd, although on a couple of tracks you can hear the audience, but the band members definitely have hot mics as you can hear them interacting throughout the recording. On "Ore-Se-Rere" Sanders delivers some vocal harmony with the other band members in an African-chant-like fashion underneath some heavy percussion work without one single note on the saxophone! The result is evidence that a good time was had by all. Three of the five songs are Sanders original compostions that have plenty of room for free form improvisation. "The Gathering " is one such jam that begins with some vocal chants and some wild, blitzkrieg tenor work by Sanders that some people would dismiss as screeching and honking on all registers of the instrument but their is a method to Pharoah Sanders's musical madness. As the title implies it is "Elevation" as the music takes you up, up and away, away from the crazy world to eventually reflect in a peaceful state. His sax work has all the markings of his tutelege with John Coltrane. Sanders experiments with diffferent sounds, much like Trane who also incorporated Eastern and African melodies and instruments into the music for a striking effect that is a precursor to the blending of cultures in music in some of todays world music. Sanders is featured on soprano and tenor saxophone for a multilayered sonic sax blast. "Spiritual Blessing" has a calming effect, like a call to prayer Sanders blows through his soprano in a Middle Eastern meditative slow way that allows you to transcend and experience his harmonic bliss. This is a good Sanders recording but if you are new to Pharoah Sanders this might not be the palce to begin your exploration of his music. Since he was well versed and had finished his Trane apprenticeship his own ship was beginning to sail on the sails of Trane. In other words the influence is quite strong and similar to Coltrane's late period. If you are new I recommend listening to a greatest hits package first to see if you like this form of jazz. Although not for everyone it is free form meditative Tranesque music at it's best. Sadly the Ash Grove became ashes. Originally a folk club in the fifties and a place where International music found it 's way into Los Angeles it burned to the ground for a third and final time shortly after this recording was made. All that is left are the memories from those lucky enough to have been there on occasion and a few wonderful recordings reflecting the time period. Recommended for jazz collectors.

If you're looking you know this cd is a must-have!Sure Impulse could've totally done a better job of packaging these re-issues BUT,and at least to me,it's a big but.They left the original QS encoded quad mixes intact!!!
Which means to enjoy an awesome quad(surround sound for you newbs!) experience all you have to do is play this cd and activate the Dolby Prologic II Music(NOT Cinema!!!) function on your A/V receiver(Dolby PL II just happens to be a dead on QS surround decoder)
Here's the settings you'll want to apply to your DPL II Music options

Panorama-ON
Dimension-4
Center Width-7 or highest maximum(this effectively shuts off the Center channel for a true QUAD experience!

ALL of the Impulse cd re-issues that were originally quad lp's have the QS encoding intact so have a ball w/ 'em!

A gem because it is mostly live, recorded at a defunct club in L.A. for unconventional styles. You must accept that at any moment P. Sanders can go from serene to surreal. If you can hold on, he'll bring it full circle. A good introduction or addition to a fan.

A decent record marred by bizarre production choices, "Elevation" is primarily a live album, recorded in September of 1973, with one brief piece from a studio date shortly thereafter. Pharoah Sanders, heard here on tenor and soprano saxes as well as an array of percussion and vocal is joined on the live tracks by pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Calvin Hill (who doubles on tamboura on a few tracks), percussionists Lawrence Killian, John Blue, Jimmy Hopps and drummer Michael Carvin. The studio piece ("Greeting to Saud") adds violinist Michael White, inaudible vocalist Sedatrius Brown and percussionist Kenneth Nash with Carvin sitting out.

The four live tracks show remarkable diversity-- opener "Elevation" feels closely related to "A Love Supreme" and "The Creator Has a Masterplan" with Sanders stating a four note theme and providing lovely solos before catching fire and exploding. The piece begins to cool off a bit when Hill takes a stunning bass solo leading into a staggered theme statement. But just as the piece starts to cook again, it fades out! This is a theme that repeats throughout the remainder of the tracks, be it the West-Indian tinged "Ore-Se-Rere" (which truthfully doesn't sit well with me at all-- I find it to a be quite frankly a bit irritating) and lovely soprano-over-drone piece "Spiritual Blessing" (one of the real highlights of the record). Thankfully spared this editing is the South African-influenced Sander screech-fest "The Gathering" (where again after Sanders brings the piece to a boil simmers with a superb solo from Hill), but the damage is pretty much done-- the editing really ruined the experience for me.

The studio track is interesting enough-- with lovely piano statements over a tamboura drone and a literal wall of percussion before a moody violin enters. But as one would expect, just as the piece starts to develop, it fades out.

One piece of good news-- sonically it lives up to the usual Impulse! reissues, but I miss the days before GRP/Impulse! was bought by Verve and they used to actually put some effort into reissues-- this is the sort of piece that could have really benefitted from having tracks restored. Newcomers to Sanders should start with "Karma", it's his best known for a reason, this one is probably for fans only.

The 5 stars is for the music - recorded live in 1973.
Elevation is one of Pharoas finest recordings containing some
of the best music from the period. With influences from Africa,
India and - something that is always at the heart of Sanders`
music -the blues. And not to forget - there is a lot of joy
and happiness here.
Unfortunately -what we get is not the complete picture. It is
understandable that the original lp only contained parts of the
performances. But a cd can contain close to 90 minutes of music
so it would have been possible for Impulse to put out a cd with
the complete tracks.But then of course - it is cheaper to put out
replicas.
Mosaic would do a better job with this great music.