Those of you that are familiar with my musical taste know that I listen mainly to jazz, and that my favorite musician still playing is Pharoah Sanders. Albert Ayler (another great jazz musician of the era, listen to his Love Cry album) said that Coltrane was the father, Pharoah was the son, and that he, Albert, was the holy ghost. Maybe a little blasphemous, but I'm just quoting. Actually, I just listened to Ayler's Love Cry last night, and while Anne said that it sounded pretty wild, I actually thought it was much tamer and easier to follow than when I first heard it in the early 70s.
Anyway, I digress. I first heard Pharoah at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore in the early 70s. The Famous, home of The Left Bank Jazz Society, held jazz concerts every Sunday from 5 till 9. The fans brought their food, drinks, and whatever other intoxicants were appropriate (I'm sure you know what I mean) and sat back and enjoyed the best jazz on the planet. Duke, the Count, Dexter, Chet Baker, Mingus, Johnny Hartman, Elvin Jones (oh, he did leer at my wife), Freddie Hubbard, the list goes on and on. MC Vernon Welch taped all those concerts, but only a few, like Stan Getz, ever got released. So, that Sunday, Pharoah Sanders, played, and he was AMAZING!!!
He was on stage with about 20 musicians, including a whole group of African percussionists and people ringing bells. Music of the celestial galaxies, to be sure. I hustled out the next day to get Karma, his very popular album of the time, and Pharoah has been my favorite ever since. I used to see him wherever possible: Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Paris, even made some surreptitious cassette recordings (looking online, apparently I wasn't the only one, as his unauthorized "discography" is long).
Over the years, Pharoah, who is 75 years old now, has evolved from being very raucous and wild, to being much more mellow and melodic, but no less intense. We have heard him in NY at The Village Vanguard, Iridium, Philharmonic Hall, and of course, at Birdland, where we went to hear him a couple of weeks ago. As he is getting up in years, we wanted to go several nights, and indulged in four sets over two nights. He was incredible! His quartet that week was Pharaoh, Greg Bandy on drums, Nat Reeves on bass (Nat is an audiophile) and the amazing William Henderson on piano. I am including this video (above) of someone's secret recording made that week. This was earlier in the week, but very nice.
I am also including another video (right) to the last set Saturday night, when we were there. I actually think you can hear me yelling, as it seems like the videographer was close by. On this one, Greg Bandy's son was on drums. Definitely developing, but definitely further to go, and Pharaoh was clearly tired as this was his last set of the week. Speaking of sons, on Friday night Pharaoh's son Tomoki joined him for one piece. Tomoki is following in his father's footsteps, attending Berklee School of Music. Maybe someday we will hear Tomoki and Ravi Coltrane play together. Might happen, and wouldn't that be something? Let me say, Tomoki was great, and he and his father together were amazing. The interplay just blew my mind. I am including a picture of them playing together, as well as a couple of Pharoah, which I hope my editor includes.
