Back in my younger days, it took me a long time to warm up to more traditional acoustic jazz, even after being hooked on Bitches Brew-era fusion. My problems centered around the ride cymbal-centered drumming common in pre-1969 jazz and the stiff formality of sequential soloing broken by arranged ensemble pieces. Of course these were pinhead impressions based on my very limited exposure to the wide variety of jazz available, but that’s how I saw things.
Pharoah Sanders, “The Creator Has a Master Plan”
Pharoah Sanders’ Karma changed all that. This large ensemble jam based on thematic material from Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, provided the gateway to stronger, more dangerous forms of jazz. It acclimated me to traditional jazz approaches to drumming and its acoustic instrumentation cured me of my adolescent aversion to non-electric jazz. Although featuring some loose arrangement details, such as the flute carrying the basic theme through long sections of Pharoah’s soloing, the epic magnitude of the piece, and the floating nature of the soloist versus the accompaniment, makes it a fine JAMuary candidate. Don’t miss the double double-basses; Lonnie Liston-Smith’s piano; and the thick broth of french horn, flute, and various drummers/percussionists. Finally, Leon Thomas’ vocal is the jazz vocal for folks that don’t like jazz vocals: a jammin’ bit of late-’60s ingenuousness sitting comfortably in the ensemble, extending and, in some sense, rectifying Coltrane’s singing on A Love Supreme.
The album consisted of two pieces, “The Creator Has a Master Plan” and “Colors.” The former, included here, originally spanned a side and a half with a transitional fade to get from side A to side B. When first purchased on CD, I was very disappointed to find that MCA had skipped the expense of revisiting the master tape to restore the continuous take. Fortunately, they corrected this transgression on this subsequent improved quality release.
This is a good one, Geo. Right up my alley, alongside Coltrane’s “Meditations.”
It’s my impression that Sanders is always dismissed as a somewhat lightweight Coltrane Wannabe, but I think he’s done lots of great work, particularly all of his Impulse releases. This one is clearly the best, though. I think he really did his old employer proud. I’m surprised you weren’t familiar with it. I hope some of the jazz-phobic RTHers put on their kufis, light up a symbolic doobie, and groove on the jam!
You know what’s been my main hangup with buying any of Sanders’ albums? His record covers! I fear that once any late-60s Coltrane associate, like Coltrane himself, is photographed in a dashiki and is surrounded by exotic instruments – and Impulse has adopted the use of psychedelic fonts – that I’m going to get a real turd, like the mother of psychedelic jazz turds, Coltrane’s Om. I’ve resisted taking the plunge on Sanders for that reason alone. I feared buying one of the Albert Ayler records in that packaging (I bought it though and like it – I don’t think he’s wearing a dashiki). I bought one Dewey Redman album from the late-60s or early-70s. He’s dashiki and psych-font free.
geo, i’m right there with ya on sanders.
along with what you’ve posted, “ipho zam” and “Summun Bukmun Umyun” are my favorites.
what else do you recommend?
Jewels of Thought is the one most similar to Karma. It has the rerecorded version of “Prince of Peace” from Iphizo Zam, which I’m not sure was released when it was recorded. The other Impulses of his that are available are good. Thembi,
…Tauhid, Black Unity, Elevation. Most of them can be grabbed pretty cheap. A later release called Crescent With Love is a very nice set of Coltrane related tunes recorded in the 90’s.
Thembi was a major underground radio staple in my neck of the woods.
I wanted to mention that yesterday I caught up on the last three JAMuary entries, and this was far and away my favorite. I have a Pharoah Sanders album. I can’t remember the name, but I recall it being a little more abstract-sounding than this.
Update: Live at the East is the Sanders album I own.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Oats. It was a staple of my developmental diet and I was wondering what folks that heard it new would think of it. I have and like Live in the East, but it’s not on the top of my Sanders list.
Mr. Mod,
I revisited Om last night. I think the thing that makes these late 60’s/early 70’s blowfests work is a dynamic that blends the sweet with the sour, but Om is relentless. After the Opening chants, it dives right into the shrieking climax of a sax solo, (it actually sounds like it might be Sanders rather than Coltrane) which lasts for about 15 minutes followed by a Tyner solo which is also pretty fragmented. If you were to drop your needle right into the most raucous part of The Creator…, it wouldn’t sound unlike Om. But that moment is set up and chilled out by the more lyrical sections that frame it.