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Wearing Our Hearts
16 Jan2008
WISDOM THROUGH MUSIC
LOVE IS EVERYWHERE
Pharaoh Sanders
Wisdom Through Music
Impulse : 1973
PS, sax, vocal, flute; James Branch, flute; Joe Bonner, piano; Cecil McBee, bass; Norman Connors, drums; Lawrence Killian, congas, percussion; Mtume, percussion; Badal Roy, percussion.
This is probably the least discussed album from Pharaoh Sanders’s impressive stint at Impulse. It’s an unusual effort featuring more singing and less saxophone, more soul and less shronk, more bottom and less top. As if Pharoah took grafts from the poppier sections from his hit “The Creator Has a Master Plan” and generated these pieces directly from that material. The songs have even been distilled to five minute nuggets. Hardcore fans may miss the sidelong blowouts, but the succinct melodies, infectious joyfulness, and refreshingly light touch offer ample pleasures.
The title track has a winning Afro-Caribbean swagger and a raggedly funky sax solo from Pharaoh. Clocking in at five minutes and change, you can’t go wrong. Sanders busts his lungs for the refrain of “Love Is Everywhere” – and while there are other messages we can get behind just as easily, there’s a seductive soul vibe here, captured perfectly by the initial, slinky bass vamp. It opens onto a cheery instrumental maelstrom that packs twenty minutes worth of churn into a peppy five. (Query: is this version simply a fade-out of the long take on Love In Us All? Can’t confirm just now.)
For groove junkies and r&b fiends from the Soul-sides of the track, Wisdom Through Music is maybe the perfect entry point to the wider world of free jazz. And hey — if that’s not you, send your hip-shaking friends this way to sample the wares.
& & & & & & &
For a tantalizing glimpse of this band, circa 1972, see this all-too-brief video segment at Juma’s Archive. (Check the young Stanley Clarke.)
And take a gander at the great Chuck Stewart photos that graced the original LP, here.
& & & & & & &
And speaking of groove, belated birthday greetings to Ronald Shannon Jackson, who turned 68 over this past weekend. He would welcome well-wishers at cymbata AT sbcglobal DOT net.
- In: Pharoah Sanders
8 Responses to Wearing Our Hearts
cherise
January 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
this is some fine Pharaoh. never really dug his impulse albums for the longest time but maybe b/c the best stuff wasn’t the most readily available.
now what about Pharaoh’s post Impulse joints? what’s worth checking out? anyone help a girl on a budget out with some solid recommends?
and i can’t believe that pharaph t-shirt in the photo is real and all. available for purchase too, crazy world…
Ben
January 17th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Good tracks, thank you :)
I’m going to see Pharoah’s quartet next week. In a bad place in my town (Rouen, France) but well, I can walk to it !
david
January 21st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Liking the new increase in posts per week! If I was being harsh, I’d say that 70s Pharoah gets stuck in a bit of a cloying peace and love and hippy dippy happiness groove with lots of percussion and joyous jamming over 30 minutes when it could get done in five…But, that said, I wouldn’t be without any of it, for all its flaws. Presented a radio programme on Sanders this weekend, and it’s good that so much of his stuff is still in print (unlike, say, Marion Brown) – but yes, this is one OOP one that definitely deserves to see the light of day.
doug w
January 21st, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Cherise, my pick of post-Impulse albums is the PHAROAH album on India Navigation, which was the first lp to appear after his parting ways with the label and immediately prior to Pharoah’s blindly sailing into the quiet storm. PHAROAH is more meditative than percussive but the drones that hit about halfway through “Harvest Time” are as beguiling as any of his earlier rhythmic workouts.
More recently, I consider MESSAGE TO LOVE to be a fairly eloquent return to earlier forms, even if subsequent Laswell associations have failed to engage.
peter breslin
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I liked the Laswell thing with Tony Williams…what was that called anyway? Sadly, it was stolen out of my car in LA, along with Shannon Jackson’s Red Warrior (happy birthday RSJ!) and my dogeared copy of George Russell’s The Lydian Chromatic Concept. I suspect somebody is now an improvising hero as a result of that selection of pilfered goods.
Oh yeah, it’s called Arcana.
The rippingest Sanders after Impulse for me is Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages. Essential.
PB
cherise
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
doug thanks for the tip. don’t know that self titled album at all but it’s now officially on my radar. the drones sound intriguing. i’ve run across “message to love” used a few times and just scratched my brow but now i won’t be shy in pickin it up. much appreciation.
and peter oh yeah for sure on “ask the ages” which i always think of as a sonny joint but pharaoh does play like its 1971 all over again.
saw pharaoh once years ago and he mostly shook some bells and did a long sultry version of “over the rainbow” which was cool for my straight friends who think that shit is what jazz should sound like but i couldn’t get off on it at all. which is why i’ve been wary of his later albums…
stephen v funk
January 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
great great album. the full lengh “love is everywhere” on the album of that title is awesome also. this stuff needs to be more widely heard….!
Vincent
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 am
Not my favourite Pharoah Impulse but a nice album. The title-track is a beautiful kaleidoscope of sound and the closing ‘Selflessness’ is worth the price of the album alone.
By the way, the long version of ‘Love Is Everywhere’ stops in the same place as this short version, and then the tune starts up again much slower, allowing for a lovely sax and piano meditation to unfold for the next 13 minutes or so.