Black Music Sunday: Celebrating Pharoah Sanders’ spirit of freedom

The late, great tenor saxophonist Farrell “Pharoah” Sanders, famed for his excursions into free jazz that evolved into spiritual jazz, was born on Oct. 30, 1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas. We mourned his passing at the age of 81 a little over two years ago in “Pharoah Sanders has joined the ancestors.”

His long musical career began in the 1960s. The Grammy Award-winning artist and NEA Jazz Master not only led his own group but was a sideman who played with many of our greatest jazz musicians, including John Coltrane. His free jazz and spiritual musical journeys will continue to entrance and inspire generations of new listeners. Join us today in paying tribute to his artistry.

”Black Music Sunday” is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 230 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.

The African-American Registry details Sanders beginnings:

Farrell Sanders was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother worked as a cook in a school cafeteria, and his father worked for the City of Little Rock. An only child, Sanders began his musical career accompanying church hymns on clarinet. His initial artistic accomplishments were in the visual arts, but at Scipio Jones High School in North Little Rock, Sanders began playing the tenor saxophone. The band director, Jimmy Cannon, was a saxophone player and introduced Sanders to jazz. Although still a student, Sanders took over as the band director when Cannon left until a permanent director could be found.  

During the late 1950s, Sanders would often sneak into Black clubs in downtown Little Rock to play with acts that were passing through. At the time, Little Rock was part of the touring route through Memphis, Tennessee, and Hot Springs for R&B and jazz musicians. Sanders was limited by the state’s segregation and the R&B and jazz standards that dominated the Little Rock music scene.  After finishing high school in 1959, Sanders moved to Oakland, California, and lived with relatives. He briefly attended Oakland Junior College and studied art and music.

Once outside the Jim Crow South, Sanders could play in black and white clubs. His Arkansas connection stuck with him in the Bay Area with the nickname “Little Rock.”  He moved to New York City in 1961 after playing with rhythm and blues bands. Sun Ra’s biographer wrote that Sanders was often homeless, and Ra gave him a place to live and clothes and encouraged him to use the name “Pharoah.”  

Sanders’ website continues his story:

In 1961, Sanders moved to New York, where he struggled. Unable to make a living with his music, Sanders took to pawning his horn, working non-musical jobs, and sometimes sleeping on the subway. During this period he played with a number of free jazz luminaries, including Sun Ra, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins.

In 1964, Coltrane asked Sanders to sit in with his band. The following year, Sanders was playing regularly with the Coltrane group. Coltrane’s ensembles with Sanders were some of the most controversial in the history of jazz. Their music represents a near total desertion of traditional jazz concepts, like swing and functional harmony, in favor of a teeming, irregularly structured, organic mixture of sound for sound’s sake. Strength was a necessity in that band, and as Coltrane realized, Sanders had it in abundance.

Sanders made his first record as a leader in 1964. After John Coltrane’s death in 1967, Sanders worked briefly with his widow, Alice Coltrane. From the late ’60s, he worked primarily as a leader of his own ensembles.

Here is the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters mini-bio of Sanders:

Sanders participated in this six-minute NEA feature, along with legendary musicians Terence Blanchard, Lakecia Benjamin, Jason Moran, Allan Harris,and David Murray.

In this 16-minute interview, Sanders talks about his work with musical greats including Coltrane, Sun Ra, Billy Higgins, and more. Though the video is labeled as taking place in 1964, there is some question about the actual date—and its description contains no information about who conducted it.

There is also a four-part ESP-Disk CD series titled “In the Beginning: 1963-1964,” which covers Sanders’ musical beginnings in New York City.

”This four-CD set documents the first recordings of the iconic tenor saxophonist, prior to his well-known association with John Coltrane. Beginning with two previously unreleased sessions with Ornette Coleman alumni Don Cherry and Paul Bley, followed by Pharoah’s debut date as a leader for ESP-Disk’ and concluding with the first issue ever of the complete December 30 and 31, 1964 Sun Ra at Judson Hall concerts, Sanders’s only known recordings with the Arkestra. The set also includes rare recorded interviews with Sanders, Cherry, Bley and Ra by ESP-Disk’ music producer Michael D. Anderson.

In the intro, Sanders describes his early days and hard times in the city, when his horn was held together by rubber bands.

Jazz journalist Shaun Brady suggests that you listen to Sanders’ work with other artists in a JazzTimes article titled “5 Great Albums Featuring Pharoah Sanders, Sideman.”

Here are two of Brady’s selections:

Sonny Sharrock
Ask the Ages (Axiom, 1991)

Sharrock had been a crucial element in some of Sanders’ best albums from the late ’60s (the mighty Tauhid in particular), and the tenor great repays the favor on the guitarist’s own career highlight. Produced by Bill Laswell, Ask the Ages is one of the most electrifying hybrids of hard rock and cutting-edge jazz ever recorded, full of serrated melody lines and overdriven skronk. In Sharrock, the always tempestuous Sanders finds a frontline partner who can match his ferocity while channeling it along unexpected pathways.

[…]

David Murray & the Gwo-Ka Masters
Gwotet (Justin Time, 2004)

Though Sanders could always more than hold his own in a tenor duel, he found his fire-breathing match in the impossibly prolific Murray. The second meeting between Murray and the percussion group from Guadeloupe, Gwotet is fueled by buoyant Caribbean funk, a perfect (and necessary) foundation for the scorched-earth blowing of the clashing saxophone titans. It constantly threatens overkill, though the Masters’ infectious rhythms and exuberant chants maintain the high-spirited atmosphere.

”The Creator Has A Master Plan” from Sanders’ 1969 album “Karma” will live on through the ages as a jazz classic. Music writer Noah Sparkes described it for UDiscoverMusic:

From the first moments of the 32-minute opener, “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” we hear precisely what makes Sanders’ playing so compelling. Through a towering wave of clattering instrumentation, the hoarse tones of Sanders’ tenor erupt like irrepressible jets of energy. Mirroring the opening of “A Love Supreme,” the intro soon gives way to a simple bass groove. From here, the track ascends through passages of melodic beauty, of unforgiving chaos, and of thrilling jazz yodeling (courtesy of vocalist Leon Thomas).

Happy heavenly birthday, Pharoah.