“Pharoah isn’t Sanders’ best record, but it’s reasonably widely loved for a meditative quality that contrasts with his more ferocious better-known work.”
Pharoah Sanders’ 1977 album Pharoah is one of beauty and contentment, of family and love. You could even call it relaxed, a term unfit for his other 60s and 70s classics. The story behind it, however, is one of bitterness and disappointment—a complete contrast to the record’s majestic sound.
The saxophonist, who’d not entered the studio for at least three years, found himself and his band in a large, concrete room with minimal adornment and a rather primitive recording setup. This room, a former spring water factory in Rockland County, New York, was home to Bob Cummins, the corporate lawyer and spiritual jazz obsessive behind the small label India Navigation. Limited on resources and skill, Cummins wanted his hero Pharoah Sanders to record a saxophone and bass duo session. Sanders needed something more complex, but not in the way that Cummins expected.
Originally published by Tracking Angle.Read it on Tracking Angle