Pharoah Sanders - Jewels of Thought (27/9/19)

There are so many ways i could go about choosing the next record in a collection this big and varied, so many paths i could travel, but i've never heard Pharoah Sanders.


This is essentially African free jazz (lots of traditional African instruments), and i love that the album notes tell you which musicians are playing on the left and right channels.

And let me tell you, that central solo on Hum-Allah... is the craziest thing i've heard by anyone who isn't john zorn (who incidentally was only 13 at the time of this recording). Sun in Aquarius Part 1 is a beautiful chaos that gives way to some equally beautiful nonsense inside a piano, then builds back to a relentless cacophony of everything before the break (no surprise i love it).

Part 2 picks back up just before another wicked banshee tirade and somehow seamlessly morphs back to straight jazz.

I really love the use of voice as a ululating instrument, full solo halfway through Side B, with an imitative bass duet right after, before all hell breaks loose again.

Really cool stuff.

https://youtu.be/6gW-R8chYSE

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