HEALING SONG
Pharaoh Sanders
Live at the East
Impulse : 1972
PS, tenor sax; Joseph Bonner, piano, harmonium; Lonnie Liston Smith, piano, flute, percussion; Marvin Peterson, trumpet; Carlos Garnett, flute, vocals; Harold Vick, vocals, sax; Stanley Clarke, bass; Cecil McBee, bass; Lawrence Killian, congas and bailophone; William Hart, drums.
Maybe it’s the encroaching winter, maybe it’s the crappy economy, but these days we find ourselves fighting off the doldrums. Supposing that maybe you could use a lift as well, we offer up Pharaoh Sanders’ sublime “Healing Song” as a spiritual salve for the coming week.
Coming off his tenure with Coltrane, Sanders cut a profusion of albums for Impulse! in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This body of work has been simultaneously under- and over-rated. The commonly available material, including Karma (with the freak hit “The Creator Has A Master Plan”) and Thembi, doesn’t hold up as well as some of the lesser-known corners of his catalog, particularly Village of the Pharaohs and Live at the East.
Both albums were recorded around the same time and find Pharaoh leading exceptional large ensembles. They’re the culmination of his soul-jazz period, adding compositional nuances, complex solos, and intriguing instrumental textures to his spiritual vamps. It’s no small feat that the 21-minute “Healing Song” has nary a lull, moving from sections of blissful ululations to scarifying skronk and back again. There’s a ceremonial sense of invoking peace but it comes through an acknowledgment of chaos and pain.
Some highlights: The song breaking down to a funky and entrancing bass duet at the 5:00 mark. The effortless way the hypnotic vocals are subtly woven into the parts of the piece. The sublime coda that sounds like an orchestra winding down accompanied by Asian percussion.
Interesting side note: per a Discogs comment, Live at the East wasn’t recorded live at The East. Capturing the date at the Brooklyn club was going to prove too expensive, so the audience was instead brought into the studio to recreate the live environment. It follows in a small-but-proud tradition of great live albums that aren’t actually live, including James Brown’s Sex Machine.
Here is Pharoah Sanders’ web home. Here’s a rather extensive discography/sessionography. Also, happy belated to Mr. Sanders, who turned 69 on October 13.
What’re some of your favorite “spiritual” jazz joints?
at 7:47 am
Excellent post guys! I love every single recording Sanders put out on Impulse, and never have really thought about which one is best, but “Live At The East” certainly is a contender. I might be partial to “Black Unity” due to the fact that Carlos Garnett plays tenor sax on it, adding some nice flourishes under Sanders’ fury. Garnett sticks to flute on the live recording, and it’s good playing, but I prefer him on tenor.
I totally agree that listening to Pharoah is a great way to fight off the doldrums; I’ve jammed to him many a rush hour morning to get fired up for going to work.
at 12:11 pm
I’ve been wanting to get deeper into Pharoah’s Impulse work, and your post is very inspiring toward that.
I had an Impulse anthology on LP back in about 1973 that featured “Astral Traveling” from Thembi, so I have always had a soft spot for that soulful, radio-friendly track, featuring Sanders on soprano sax.
at 12:26 pm
This track is the balm. (ha. get it?)
Anyway, just had to defend Thembi for a second, which I love. Although that may be mostly due to how much I like Cecil McBee’s bass solo (called Love I think?) on side 2.
As for favorite “spiritual” jazz records, Spiritual Unity is about as deeply etched into my consciousness as anything. One that I used to love but haven’t listened to in almost 20 years I guess is Coltrane’s Om. Wonder how that would stand up – anyone have a take on that record?
at 1:05 pm
I’ll stand up for Thembi as well. And don’t forget that there are wonderful moments on his later records too. Rejoice & Journey To The One, I’m thinking of. Three tracks I was enjoying last week that, I guess, qualify as “Spiritual Jazz” 1) “Daughter Of Cochise” Horace Tapscott written and arranged track from Sonny’ Dream by The Sonny Criss Orch. 2) “Shiloh” on The Many Facets Of David Newman. 3)”Impressions(take two)” on The Mastery Of John Coltrane/ Vol. IV “Trane’s Modes” These are outtakes from the Live At The Village Vanguard sessions and this version features one of my favorite Dolphy solos ever. It’s followed on side C of the double LP by a strange and beautifully inverted version of Naima with another top ten Dolphy solo, this time on bass clarinet. Tying both threads together, I’ve been intrigued by a track I’ve heard from a yet to be released collaboration between Sanders and producer Arthur Baker called… “Spirituality”. Anyone else hear this yet?
at 1:27 pm
If we can consider them to belong in the “spiritual” category, I want to make a case for Gato Barbieri’s early 70s albums, things like “Fenix,” “Bolivia,” Chs. 1 & 2 on Impulse!
I think that sonically they have a lot to do w/Pharoah’s stuff – shared ties to late Coltrane & Ayler; similarly rough, huge saxophone sounds; modal/scalar harmonic organization and lots of rubato. For me, Gato found a really beautiful sound – personally and in his ensemble concept – in the early 70s. It was a convincing blend of free jazz w/elements of various Latin-American musical elements (the latter of course also figures in Pharoah’s music).
at 1:48 pm
I have Sanders’ whole streak from Tauhid through Live At The East on my iPod, with the exception of Village Of The Pharoahs, which I’ve never heard. This one is one of my favorites. I also love love love Izipho Zam.
at 4:06 pm
Funnily enough Karma and Thembi are the two PS albums that i have, and i have never really felt the urge to investigate further… “simultaneously under- and over-rated” indeed.
at 5:50 pm
hey brian – Yeah, we were probably a bit hard on Thembi in our zeal to prop up Live at the East and Village. I still find Karma a bit blah compared to Pharaoh’s other work though.
Need to revisit OM. It was a mental can-opener for me as well but it’s been many moons.
at 5:51 pm
Great comment Malcolm. Thanks for those picks. You’ve got me scurrying back to my records.
The idea of that Baker/Sanders collab is messing with my mind. Where did you hear that?! And is it scheduled to be released?
at 5:53 pm
Hey Phil – Thanks for stopping by. Izipho Zam is great, agreed. And I promise there’s no way you won’t love Village of the Pharaohs. Worth seeking out, even at the import price.
at 6:03 pm
it’s funny because i’ve also always thought of gato and pharaoh as being similar. I love gato’s work in the early seventies too. very spiritual. seems like may be they made did less interesting music after these years, too.
at 6:06 pm
“Astral Traveling” is the bomb. Thembi haters back off.
at 6:09 pm
Thanks, Bart! I’ll have to go back to “Black Unity” again. It’s been a little while.
Are there any Carlos Garnett solo joints that you rate highly?
at 6:30 pm
The Baker/Sanders track “Spirituality has been played a couple of times on Gilles Peterson’s show in the past six weeks or so. It’s listed as a white label on the playlists and it’s typical for him to play tracks months in advance of the actual release. I’ve not seen any other info on it. It’s a one or two chord vamp with vocals, not a million miles away from “The Creator…”, “Prince Of Peace”, or “You’ve Got To Have Freedom”.
at 10:23 pm
Obviously I want to say Dwight Trible, but that leads to the “I don’t actually own any of his albums” problem that comes up so often. Still, his first one, Horace has Billie Higgins and Charles Owens on it, so is presumably good, and I’m intrigued by that album by Kamau Daáood of “I am Horace Tapscott and I am not for sale” fame. At this point I was thinking of making a highlarious joke about how the best solution would be for each of you to purchase all of his albums and report back, but you’ll just have to use your imagination.
Others: Love Devotion Surrender by McLaughlin and Santana, and Beyond the Wall by Kenny Garrett.
at 10:28 pm
Forgot to say, what I really hope is that Dwight puts out a new album soon, since he’s really reached a different level as a live performer just over the last 3 years or so.
at 9:23 am
Besides the “obvious” choices of spiritual (free) jazz (the ones from Coltrane, Dolphy and Ayler), I’d like to mention Charles Gayle with his “Repent” album. Sure, a “skronky” kind of spirituality that is ;-)
at 4:01 pm
Possibly my favorite Pharoah album, and one that definitely feels ignored, is Elevation. The title cut and “The Gathering” are classic Pharoah extended workouts with shuffling grooves, enchanting chanting:), chaotic outbursts, and beautiful passages. The three remaining cuts are short, less challenging, but beautiful and engaging. For me, it is an incredibly strong album top to bottom.
at 8:10 pm
Coltrane’s After The Rain. Miles’ Saeta. Hendrix’ Hear My Trane A Comin’ (the 1970 Berkeley, CA is my favorite). These are heavy songs for me and I can only handle listening to them every few years – and the timing has to be right. But they have never ever failed me.
at 8:22 am
Hey cjc – Yes, I have some Carlos Garnett moments that really inspire me. IMHO, his greatest moment is as a sideman on Andrew Hill’s “Lift Every Voice” LP from 1969. He also has some good moments on Miles Davis’ “The Complete On the Corner Sessions”, although that set is pricy and you have to wade through a lot of music to find Carlos’ best parts. His five solo LPs for Muse in the 70s were all great, and if you made me pick one, I’d probably go with “Let This Melody Ring On”–his solos are full of passion and Anthony Jackson absolutely grooves like a monster.
at 3:37 pm
‘live at the east’ is definitely one of the finest sanders albums, avoiding the meandering groove-based approach of a few of the impulse albums, where ‘spirituality’ ends up meaning prettily melodic noodling with none of the abrasive power of pharoah at his best. ‘east’ gets the balance right – the melodies are gorgeous, and one of the most surprising things about sanders after coltrane’s death was just what a fine player he was on blissed-out slower tracks (the term ‘ballads’ doesn’t really do them justice). perhaps my favourite is ‘let us go into the house of the lord’ from ‘summun bukmun umyun’, with pharoah on soprano and one of the finest bass solos i’ve ever heard, from cecil mcbee. mcbee is immense on these records – you’re right to point out the two bass action on ‘east’, which also crops up on ‘black unity; and stanley clarke was a really good player before return to forever turned him into another fusion bore…(check out the first rtf record). ‘ love in us all’, a japan-only release (http://www.discogs.com/Pharoah-Sanders-Love-In-Us-All/release/516760) has a rather good free jazz cut on the second side.
there’s an old thread about the east over at freejazz.org, and a whole book’s been published about it (though it seems impossible to get hold of). here’s the thread – ttp://www.freejazz.org/?q=node/2593
at 9:27 pm
I haven’t earned anyone mention Pharoah performance on Alice Coltrane’s Journey to Satchinianda piece. That falls in the classic spirtiual masterpieces
at 4:45 am
Great post. Pharoah’s music was some of the first Jazz I got into 20 odd years ago and Healing Song has long been a favourite track. Mainly for the bass duet it has to be said.
In a purely “Spiritual” vein – as opposed to Free or Avant, etc – The Visitors are a favourite of mine. Neptune and Mother Earth being their best albums. Their cover of Naimi is a curiosity worth hearing purely for the fact that they were Naima Coltrane’s cousins.
Thanks as ever for this great blog.
at 10:45 am
I just had a chance to listen to this this morning. It’s completely awesome and beautiful. I just wanted to say that. Thanks for posting it.