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Egyptology
11 Dec2006
VILLAGE OF THE PHAROAHS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3
Pharoah Sanders
Village of the Pharoahs
Impulse : 1973
PS, soprano sax, percussion; Sedatrius Brown, vocals, percussion; Joe Bonner, piano, flute, percussion; Arthur Webb, flute; Kylo Kylo, tamboura; Calvin Hill, Cecil McBee, and Stanley Clarke, bass; Kenneth Nash and Marvin Peterson, percussion; Lawrence Killian, congas; Jimmy Hopps, drums, percussion; Norman Connors, drums.
Many people cite Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan” as his artistic zenith and the primo entry point to his solo work. And for good reasons. Despite its thirty-minute run time, the piece was an actual FM radio hit in its day. It’s got a soulful vamp and loping groove that run throughout the piece, a catchy chant that surfaces at key intervals, and even a scorching noise section. In other words, plenty of hooks. It remains an impressive piece, but something about the simplicity of the composition and lack of surprise in its execution leaves us a little underwhelmed.
The better introduction to Sanders may be “Village of the Pharoahs.” It’s a practically a cliche in free jazz circles to prize the rare track over the better known composition, but “Village” gets us going in a way that “The Creator” simply doesn’t. Unlike some of Sanders’ work (“Creator” included) that hits a solid groove and then adds or subtracts chants and musical textures in a musical equation that can produce diminishing returns, “Village” keeps on giving.
It’s simply one of his funkiest, freakiest, and most fun efforts, from the get-go sounding like the coolest Bond theme that never was. Constantly churning, constantly in motion, the song’s multitude of basses ensure the rhythms keep shifting and sliding, while Sanders’ horn cuts through the roil like a knife through sand. Highlights include a skittering and meaty piano contribution from Bonner; some metal-on-metal percussion that rattles the chassis just past the four-minute mark; waves of tamboura that anoint the whole band about halfway through; chants that blend beautifully with the rest of the sounds, rather than drawing attention to themselves as annoying distractions.
Slated to appear on the semi-mythical Jazz Satellites 2 compilation, the song is currently available on expensive Japanese import, and appears to be a Verve/Impulse vault offering, too.
> > > > > > >
DJ alert: this song segues beautifully into “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Pharell and Snoop. Don’t change the dizzle, just turn it up a little. You can thank us later.
- In: Pharoah Sanders
14 Responses to Egyptology
David Higgs
December 12th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Excellent track. Thank you!
Peace.
Stephen V Funk
December 12th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Nice… DustyGroove.com actually has this album on CD (new) for only $19.99 [currently out of stock but keep checking...] — not a bad deal for a Japanese import Impulse title (especially compared to Amazon’s absurd $32.49!)
Incidentally, Dusty Groove also carries an import CD of Pharoah’s Love In Us All for the same $20 price… the title track of which is another fantastic long jam in the “Master Plan” mold with somewhat of a mellower vibe and a groovin’ bassline…(“For John,” on the other hand, is a paint-peeling wailer…)
Hopefully some fine day these albums will both be reissued domestically on CD… until then, the iPod people can at least download Village from iTunes (although Love is also MIA there, it appears…)
craig
December 13th, 2006 at 10:34 am
You guys are on fire with this one. It’s worth seeking out the vinyl (ebay?), the original quadrophonic release sounds superb.
Chris Rich
December 13th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I have an interesting find in the jazz lp trove where I live. It’s a Leon Thomas release on the moribund Flying Dutchman label started by Bob Theile after he bailed on Impulse.
Pharoah is on it but due to contract conflicts, he is listed as “Little Rock”, his home town. It’s another instance of wierd pseudonyms like Dolphy appearing as ‘George Lane” on early versions of Coltrane’s “Ole’” or Adderly getting called ‘Buckshot LeFunk” on some other thing.
The Thomas release is called “Spirits Known and Unknown”. Flying Dutchman:FDS-115
The band is called ‘New Vocal Frontiers’ and was recorded on 10/21 and 10/22 in 1969.
The ensemble line up includes Lonnie Liston Smith, piano, Richard Davis and Cecil McBee on bass, Roy Haynes, Richard Landrum, bongos, James Spaulding on Alto sax and flute and “Little Rock” on Tenor.
Kevin
December 13th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Hi,
I am downloading the Pharaoh Sanders songs right now.
I absolutely cherish this blog for its wealth of information about free jazz. I run a blog myself, and I know it takes a lot of time and effort to create thoughtful and interesting posts on a regular basis. I thought that you and your readers might appreciate a current post on my blog about the saxophonist Evan Parker. I had the privilege of being at this show on 5/13/03 at the 411 Club in Portland Oregon and I also recorded the show. The acoustics were amazing at this tiny warehouse space and the crowd was so respectful and quiet that you could hear a pin drop during the quiet moments of the set. One of the highlights for me was witnessing Parker’s circular breathing technique in action. This technique allows him to solo indefinitley without seemingly taking a breath. Utterly sublime and breathtaking(No pun intended). Check it out if you are interested, and please leave me a comment.
http://eclectic-grooves.blogspot.com
fred
December 14th, 2006 at 11:56 am
wow, thanks for this (especially) and everything else you’ve put up. the quality of the music in your posts is already fantastic on its own, but the commentaries are just INCREDIBLE– i’d list the posts i’ve especially loved but they’re too many to count– really, thx so much!
Joseph Fior
December 18th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
wow, I can’t believe that they would re-issue some of the other impulse albums on cd and not this one. Pharoah tracks keep coming out of the woodwork to me.
cjc
December 20th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Thanks for all the comments.
Chris – How is that Thomas album you mention? Sounds promising. Pharoah seems to have made a habit of appearing on other albums under different names around this time. He’s the “mystery guest” on Larry Young’s killer LAWRENCE OF NEWARK album.
Kevin – thanks for stopping by and mentioning your site. Just got a chance to check it out. Wonderful stuff.
Fred – really appreciate the compliment on the commentaries. We work hard on on the text so we’re glad that you like them.
Joseph – sometimes i think the best pharoah still hasn’t hit CD. we’ve got plenty more crazy great OOP tracks from him to share in the future.
Kevin
December 30th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
CJC,
Thanks for checking out my site and for the kind words! I was wondering if you would be willing to put a link for my blog under your ‘Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy’ section. So far Church Number Nine, Nothing Is and Reality Unit Concepts have linked to me on their page. While my page is not strictly jazz, it will feature a lot of jazz, specifically free jazz. I have some more jazz shows that I’ve recorded over the past 5 years that I will be posting in the near future. If you can’t link to my site, I understand. Thanks for doing what you do to make your site so amazing.
Kevin
ledrew
December 30th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Done!
Happy new year, Kevin, and keep up the good works.
Kevin
December 31st, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Thanks a lot for adding me to your links. It is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work on your site. I will be checking back regularly.
Kevin
Stephen V Funk
February 13th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
“Village” is now back in stock at Dusty Groove for $19.99…
http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=k5hsjcyd5m&ref=browse.php&refQ=kwfilter%3Dpharoah%2Bsanders%26amp%3Bincl_oos%3D1%26amp%3Bincl_cs%3D1
Whip out that credit card!
lowgrau
December 30th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Everything’s all well and good, but Pharoah’s zenith really started fast, and Tahid, particularly Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt, mapped him.
Nine years later, an album “Elevation” really showed what’s up next.
The high point of everything though, is his work on Meditations.
Just sayin’.
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October 26th, 2009 at 2:18 am
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