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PHAROAH SANDERS - THEMBI (VERVE BY REQUEST)
ARTIST:
TITLE:
Thembi (Verve By Request)
LABEL:
CATNO:
6522573
STYLE:
Jazz Fusion / Jazz /
FORMAT:
Vinyl record
DESCRIPTION:
1971 Jazz Fusion/ Soul / Freestyle - Repressed on 180g Audiophile Pressing - Recorded with two different ensembles,
Thembi was a departure from the slowly developing, side-long, mantra-like grooves Pharoah Sanders had been pursuing for most of his solo career. It's musically all over the map but, even if it lacks the same consistency of mood as many of Sanders' previous albums, it does offer an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas, making it something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period. Over the six selections, Sanders romps through a tremendous variety of instruments, including tenor, soprano, alto flute, fifes, the African bailophone, assorted small percussion, and even a cow horn. Perhaps because he's preoccupied elsewhere, there's relatively little of his trademark tenor screaming, limited mostly to the thunderous cacophony of "Red, Black & Green" and portions of "Morning Prayer." The compositions, too, try all sorts of different things. Keyboardist/pianist Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Traveling" is a shimmering, pastoral piece centered around his electric piano textures; "Love" is an intense, five-minute bass solo by Cecil McBee; and "Morning Prayer" and "Bailophone Dance" (which are segued together) add an expanded percussion section devoted exclusively to African instruments. If there's a unifying factor, it's the classic title track, which combines the softer lyricism of Sanders' soprano and Michael White's violin with the polyrhythmic grooves of the most Africanized material (not to mention a catchy bass riff). Some fans may gripe that Thembi isn't conceptually unified or intense enough, but it's rare to have this many different sides of Sanders coexisting in one place, and that's what makes the album such an interesting listen.
Thembi was a departure from the slowly developing, side-long, mantra-like grooves Pharoah Sanders had been pursuing for most of his solo career. It's musically all over the map but, even if it lacks the same consistency of mood as many of Sanders' previous albums, it does offer an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas, making it something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period. Over the six selections, Sanders romps through a tremendous variety of instruments, including tenor, soprano, alto flute, fifes, the African bailophone, assorted small percussion, and even a cow horn. Perhaps because he's preoccupied elsewhere, there's relatively little of his trademark tenor screaming, limited mostly to the thunderous cacophony of "Red, Black & Green" and portions of "Morning Prayer." The compositions, too, try all sorts of different things. Keyboardist/pianist Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Traveling" is a shimmering, pastoral piece centered around his electric piano textures; "Love" is an intense, five-minute bass solo by Cecil McBee; and "Morning Prayer" and "Bailophone Dance" (which are segued together) add an expanded percussion section devoted exclusively to African instruments. If there's a unifying factor, it's the classic title track, which combines the softer lyricism of Sanders' soprano and Michael White's violin with the polyrhythmic grooves of the most Africanized material (not to mention a catchy bass riff). Some fans may gripe that Thembi isn't conceptually unified or intense enough, but it's rare to have this many different sides of Sanders coexisting in one place, and that's what makes the album such an interesting listen.
PRICE:
£28.99
RELEASED YEAR:
SLEEVE:
New
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New
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Last FM Information on Pharoah Sanders
Please note the information is done on a artist keyword match and data is provided by LastFM.
Pharoah Sanders (1940-2022) was a U.S. jazz saxophonist.
Sanders was born on 13th October 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas, under the name Farrell Sanders. He began his professional career playing tenor saxophone in Oakland, California.
Sanders moved to New York City in 1962. He received his nickname "Pharoah" from Sun Ra, with whom Sanders performed. He came to prominence playing with John Coltrane's band starting in 1965, as Coltrane began experimenting with the music which would soon become known as avant-garde jazz.
Although he developed a slightly different style from Coltrane, Sanders was strongly influenced by their collaboration together. Sanders was also greatly influenced by Coltrane's earlier works (in which Sanders did not collaborate), particularly A Love Supreme. Spiritual elements such as the chanting in A Love Supreme would later show up in many of Sanders' own works. Sanders would also go on to produce much free jazz, being influenced by his free jazz collaborations with Coltrane, particularly Coltrane's most notable free-jazz work, Ascension (1965), as well as their dual-tenor recording Meditations (1965).
In 1968 he participated in Mike Mantler & Carla Bley's JCOA: Jazz Composer's Orchestra Association album Communications featuring Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Larry Coryell and Gato Barbieri. This solo has been referred to by John Zorn and others as the most intense and inspiring free tenor solo ever put to tape.
In the 1970s, Sanders pursued his own recordings and continued to work with the likes of Alice Coltrane on her Journey in Satchidananda album.
In 1994 he travelled to Morocco to record with master Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, resulting in the Bill Laswell-produced The Trance of Seven Colours. Sanders continued to work with Laswell, Jah Wobble, and others on the albums Message from Home (1996) and Save Our Children (1998).
Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.