Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity (1971)

Dang, I was checking out the Pharoah Sanders label on here and realized I forgot to attach a link for the Black Unity post! Whoops! Here's the recycled post, with download link:

I've been on a real Pharoah Sanders binge recently, so I decided to post 1972's Black Unity. Like other Pharoah releases, this recording is very spiritual and features some amazing players. It's one track running 37:22, with lots of great atonal freakouts. This album is very percussive, with two drummers as well as a percussionist. The two bass players, Cecil McBee and future Return to Forever member Stanley Clarke, are just as vital to the rhythmic feel. You can hear African and Asian influences in the music, sounds Pharoah experimented with for his entire career.

Tracklist:

1. Black Unity

Personnel:

Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophone, balaphone
Hannibal Marvin Peterson, trumpet
Carlos Garnett, tenor saxophone
Joe Bonner, piano
Cecil McBee, bass
Stanley Clarke, bass
Norman Connors, drums
Billy Hart, drums
Lawrence Killian, congas, talking drums, balaphone

Original sessions produced by Lee Young
Reissue produced by Michael Cuscuna
Recording engineer: Tony May
Recorded at A & R Recording Studios, New York City, on November 24, 1971

Impulse!
IMPD-219

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John Coltrane - The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording (1967)

This posthumous release, recorded at the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem, emphasizes the direction Coltrane was heading at the end of his career. The ensemble had expanded in numbers, adding another horn with Pharoah Sanders. McCoy had left the group and was replaced by Coltrane's wife Alice on piano, and Rashied Ali sat in place of Elvin Jones. Only Jimmy Garrison remained as the veteran from the A Love Supreme days. Trane was known to use two bass players as well, usually enlisting Art Davis, but Jimmy holds it down here solo. I think the two pieces selected are great contrast - "Ogunde", one of Coltrane's last compositions, and "My Favorite Things", his biggest commercial hit and probably most played tune. Of course Coltrane's style had changed immensely since his 1961 version of the tune. By the end of his career, a show would consist only of two or three selections, each running for about half an hour, maybe playing the head once or twice. He was finished with exploring scales and harmonic structure and was now probing the depths of the instrument (multiphonics). The sounds, tone and power of his playing are indescribable, it feels almost useless to try and write anything. Please listen, and comment if you dig this.

1. Introduction by Billy Taylor
2. Ogunde
3. My Favorite Things

Personnel:

John Coltrane, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophone
Alice Coltrane, piano
Jimmy Garrison, bass
Rashied Ali, drums
Algie DeWitt, Batá drum
(possibly) Jumma Santos, percussion

Recorded April 1967 in New York City

Impulse! 314 589 120-2

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Pharoah Sanders - Karma (1969) (320)

"'Trane was the Father...Pharoah was the son...I am the Holy Ghost."

Part 2 of 3. On Karma, the Son rides over a meditative, two-chord modal groove. Pharoah uses a smooth tone early on but doesn't shy away from abrasive squeaks and pitch-bending. I feel that he really bares his soul each time he plays the head of "The Creator Has A Master Plan". He's got the kind of powerful tone that really grabs you by the balls. It's such commanding playing. Just when you think you've reached some kind of zen about fifteen minutes in, shit starts to get crazy. A few minutes later Pharoah's primal wails are matching Leon Thomas' abstract yodeling. Heavy percussion and noise freak out. Just awesome. You might recognize some of the names on this recording from Coltrane's Africa/Brass sessions.

Tracklist:

1. The Creator Has A Master Plan
2. Colors

Personnel on track #1:

Pharoah Sanders, tenor sax
Leon Thomas, vocal & percussion
James Spaulding, flute
Julius Watkins, French horn
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr., piano
Richard Davis, bass
Reggie Workman, bass
William Hart, drums
Nathaniel Bettis, percussion

Personnel on track #2:

Pharoah Sanders, tenor sax
Leon Thomas, vocal & percussion
Julius Watkins, French horn
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr., piano
Reggie Workman, bass
Ron Carter, bass
Freddie Waits, drums

Original Sessions Produced by Bob Thiele
Reissue produced by Michael Cuscuna
Engineer: Bob Simpson
Recorded at RCA Studios, NYC, February 14 & 19, 1969
Digitally Remastered by Erick Labson at MCA Music Media Studios, using 20-Bit Super Mapping

Impulse!, IMPD-153

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