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Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Box Set)

By Chris May
September 1, 2023
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With the passing of Pharoah Sanders in September 2022, almost a year ago at the time of writing, and bearing in mind advances in sound-restoration technology, we can anticipate a stream of previously unissued Sanders recordings being released in the years ahead. If this outstanding 2-CD / 2-LP box set is anything to go by, bring it on.

Disc One is a straight reissue of Sanders' oft pirated 1977 album Pharoah (India Navigation), albeit with much improved sound. It was Sanders' first newly recorded release since being dropped by his longtime label Impulse! three years earlier, following a change in corporate ownership. He leads a septet, slimmed down to a quintet on the key track, the longform "Harvest Time."

Disc Two contains two live European performances of "Harvest Time." On these, Sanders leads a quartet, with no overlapping personnel from the studio album. He plays tenor saxophone, no soprano, throughout both albums, plus an assortment of percussion.

Pharoah is a bit of a curate's egg, to put it mildly. The two tracks which take up the second side, "Love Will Find A Way" and "Memories Of Edith Johnson," recorded in August 1976, are, frankly, dire. Sanders' septet features the guitarist

Tisziji Munoz

guitar
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Tisziji Munoz and the tracks are feeble attempts at jazz-rock; despite including some meaty broken-note tenor, they are as bad as the most egregious posturing of

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis in that field. (For a consideration of those, read the polemic "Miles Davis & Don Cherry: Which One Is The Grifter?" here). There is nothing intrinsically wrong with jazz rock, far from it, but to succeed it needs to be approached with conviction, and it is clear Sanders' heart was not in it. He was at the time broke. He needed to make some money. In later years, he was distinctly reticent about the album.

Anyway, it was an exercise Sanders abandoned within a few weeks, thank goodness. In September 1976, he was back in the India Navigation studio to record "Harvest Time." The 20:24 track is a strong addition to the strand of spiritual jazz he pioneered with the side-long "Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt" on his own-name Impulse! debut, Tauhid, recorded in 1966. Unlike on that track, however, on which Sanders' tenor enters only in the closing minutes, here he is on mic practically all the time. Munoz is present again, but he is playing in a gentler and more thoughtful manner than before, alongside Sanders' wife

Bedria Sanders

keyboards

" data-original-title="" title="">Bedria Sanders on harmonium.

The added value of this box set is that it allows us to follow the progress of "Harvest Time" when Sanders took it on the European road in August 1977, with a quartet completed by bassist

Hayes Burnett

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Hayes Burnett, drummer

Clifford Jarvis

drums
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Jarvis and pianist

Khalid Moss

keyboards

" data-original-title="" title="">Khalid Moss. The first version, from Middelheim, playing time 18:13, has a bouncier beat than the studio recording, and Sanders' tenor, which again is on mic most of the time, is correspondingly more expansive, and also considerably more intense. The second, shorter live version, from Willisau, is delivered even more energetically than at Middelheim. It sounds like an encore.

The discs come with a substantial liner booklet which includes interviews with Bedria Sanders and Tisziji Munoz. Audio quality is great throughout. It all adds up to a stone delight.

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Track Listing

Disc 1: Harvest Time; Love Will Find A Way; Memories Of Edith Johnson. Disc 2: Harvest Time Live Version 1 (Middelheim); Harvest Time Live Version 2 (Willisau).

Personnel

Pharoah Sanders

saxophone, tenor

Bedria Sanders

keyboards

Steve Neil

bass, acoustic

Tisziji Munoz

guitar

Greg Bandy

drums

Clifton Chase

keyboards

Lawrence Killian

percussion

Hayes Burnett

bass, acoustic

Clifford Jarvis

drums

Khalid Moss

keyboards

Additional Instrumentation

Pharoah Sanders: tenor saxophone, bells, percussion, vocals (1-5); Bedria Sanders: harmonium (1-3); Steve Neil: bass (1-3); Tisziji Munoz: guitar (1-3); Greg Bandy: drums (2, 3); Clifton Chase: keyboards (2, 3); Lawrence Killian: percussion(1-3); Hayes Burnett: bass, percussion (4, 5); Clifford Jarvis: drums (4, 5); Khalid Moss: piano, electric piano (4, 5).

Album information

Title: Pharoah (Box Set) | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Luaka Bop

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