Tuesday, March 16, 2010

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

Download

2 comments:

  1. Nice write-up, I agree with what you say about the head--a little too much repetition elsewhere for my tastes, though. Just reviewed this on my blog. Love the blog name here, so perfect!

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