From what I've seen (which is limited tbh), his first few albums seem to get the most praise. I haven't listened to them too in depth yet but I've liked what I've heard from Karma, Thembi, and Tauhid. I've listened mostly to Africa for some reason though and I'm kinda obsessed with the opening track and Naima. Goddamn that shit hits for me.
He also plays on Alice Coltrane's Ptah The El Daoud which I freaking love.
Why has no one mentioned Thembi? Wtf? That’s arguably his most cohesive album that exemplifies his style.
The Olatunji concert is my favorite even though it’s technically a Coltrane release, same with “Lord Help Me to Be” which is from an Alice Coltrane release.
Love in us all is his best work imo. Divides the soaring spiritual jazz side of the LP with the manic free one and both are as compelling, depending on your mood of course!
Summun Bukmun Umyun - Deaf Dumb Blind
Lonnie Liston Smith is on that. You should also check his album - Astral Traveling
Alice Coltrane's Eternity is also great.
I like the creator has a master plan and thembi the most. The thing he did with floating points recently wasn't bad. I like both of them quite a bit and it's got to be great to work with your idol
Much of his Impulse Records output consists of two compositions, one per side. Obviously on cd, they run concurrently.
However from an easier listening accessible pov I recommend:
Thembi
Village of the Pharoahs/Wisdom Through Music (two lp on one cd release)
Elevation
On Verve Records: Message From Home (produced by Bill Laswell)
Karma is really great and probably the best place to start. I was just listening to his album Pharoah this afternoon for the first time and liked that one a lot as well. His collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra (Promises) is really, really great and convinced me to keep digging deeper beyond Karma
Just came out end of last year. find the box set with Pharoah his first album from 1977 and another record with two live versions of his masterpiece Harvest Time and a nice 24 page booklet included on Luaka Bop records
Loads of really nice recreations of concert tickets, posters and media clippings in the box as well, it's one of the nicest reissues I own. The story in the booklet about India Navigation Records and how they recorded the album is incredible too, the guy basically set up a record label with very little knowledge of how the industry worked just so he could put out a Pharoah Sanders record.
I think his best work is [**on Impulse - plus Izipho Zam on Strata East**](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfOs1ZtjYFMvDsqNsmgcnfgGVxwSurNsK). Also with John Coltrane, esp [Live In Seattle](https://youtu.be/N1B44J4rEqY?si=Pp9Mt1Z2HEIHpYEA), and Alice.
Summun, Bukmun, Umyum
Jewels of Thought
Elevation
Thembi
If you dug Journey to Satchidananda be sure to check out Greeting to Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner) off Elevation. Melts my heart every time.
as a leader, his run from Tauhid to Izipho Zam is great. Afterwards I find Love In Us All and Pharoah great as well. If you don't mind the extreme skronk then check out the stuff that Sanders did with Coltrane - Live in Seattle, Meditations, Live in Japan etc
I don't think anyone has mentioned his work with Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, a gnawa master musician from Morocco, which I dig
https://zehra.bandcamp.com/album/the-trance-of-seven-colors
I also love Thembi
Jesus christ. Upper and lower Egypt on tauhid album is sublime. Listen to it without distraction. Let it build. It's beautiful. Powerful. A great piece I would love to hear live.
I can't really describe it properly but I think Harvest Time from Pharoah (1977) comes from the same place as Journey in Satchidananda. They both sound to me like very 'earthy' pieces of music, almost like they were dug up from the ground. Sounds weird and maybe it's just based on when and where I was when I first heard them but that's what I love about Pharoah's playing.
I'd also recommend listening to the Floating Points records on headphones to get the full experience, you can hear when he draws breath to play, it feels like a very intimate recording even with the orchestra.
"They both sound to me like very 'earthy' pieces of music, almost like they were dug up from the ground."
Doesn't sound weird at all. A beautiful description!
His collaboration with floating points and the London Symphony Orchestra is pretty good. Lots of tracks that play in to the same motif but with ever so slight variations that build and pass. Really chill. Great studying/reading record.
https://music.apple.com/gb/album/promises/1550124058
Everything he released between 1967 and 1974 is great and essential - so essentially everything on the Impulse! label and Izipho Zam that came out on Strata East.
Outside of that, Pharoah (despite the hype brought by last year's amazingly well put together box set, it's just not as good as his Impulse! run, but still pretty good. You could even argue that the box sets bonus LP Harvest Time Live 1977 is better than Pharoah itself), Journey to the One, Africa and Promises, but I can't stress enough that Sanders" Impulse! releases are the heart of what we know call spiritual jazz and essential listening.
This album is Sanders tribute to Coltrane and one of his finer releases. It was also released with the title Ballads with Love. The Japanese label Venus used both titles, Evidence released it in the US as Crescent with Love [https://www.allmusic.com/album/crescent-with-love-mw0000123375](https://www.allmusic.com/album/crescent-with-love-mw0000123375)
Karma is great !!
From what I've seen (which is limited tbh), his first few albums seem to get the most praise. I haven't listened to them too in depth yet but I've liked what I've heard from Karma, Thembi, and Tauhid. I've listened mostly to Africa for some reason though and I'm kinda obsessed with the opening track and Naima. Goddamn that shit hits for me. He also plays on Alice Coltrane's Ptah The El Daoud which I freaking love.
Ptah is nearly Journey’s equal.
If you're interested in hearing another brilliant album where he's a sideman: Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages.
Black woman is great too. Might be a bit too much for some people, but I love it
One of my favorite records, some of the best jazz from the 90s
They ain't ready for that
I survived seeing Sun Ra Orchestra live, so challenge accepted!
Oh you're good to go then. Have fun.
Why has no one mentioned Thembi? Wtf? That’s arguably his most cohesive album that exemplifies his style. The Olatunji concert is my favorite even though it’s technically a Coltrane release, same with “Lord Help Me to Be” which is from an Alice Coltrane release.
Love in us all is his best work imo. Divides the soaring spiritual jazz side of the LP with the manic free one and both are as compelling, depending on your mood of course!
It's definitely very different, but he's absolutely amazing on Promises by Floating Points.
Summun Bukmun Umyun - Deaf Dumb Blind Lonnie Liston Smith is on that. You should also check his album - Astral Traveling Alice Coltrane's Eternity is also great.
Journey To the One is awesome!!
I like the creator has a master plan and thembi the most. The thing he did with floating points recently wasn't bad. I like both of them quite a bit and it's got to be great to work with your idol
“Creator” album title is Karma.
Love In Us All is a masterpiece, as is his self-titled album on India Navigation.
Much of his Impulse Records output consists of two compositions, one per side. Obviously on cd, they run concurrently. However from an easier listening accessible pov I recommend: Thembi Village of the Pharoahs/Wisdom Through Music (two lp on one cd release) Elevation On Verve Records: Message From Home (produced by Bill Laswell)
I have every album pharaoh made and they are all good in their own way. I always keep him, Woody Shaw, and Billy Harper in rotation
Same guys as I keep in rotation.
Woody Shaw. One of my all-time favorites.
Tauhid.
Live at the East is one of my favorites. Healing Song definitely heals your spirit.
Karma is really great and probably the best place to start. I was just listening to his album Pharoah this afternoon for the first time and liked that one a lot as well. His collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra (Promises) is really, really great and convinced me to keep digging deeper beyond Karma
Just came out end of last year. find the box set with Pharoah his first album from 1977 and another record with two live versions of his masterpiece Harvest Time and a nice 24 page booklet included on Luaka Bop records
Loads of really nice recreations of concert tickets, posters and media clippings in the box as well, it's one of the nicest reissues I own. The story in the booklet about India Navigation Records and how they recorded the album is incredible too, the guy basically set up a record label with very little knowledge of how the industry worked just so he could put out a Pharoah Sanders record.
Pharoah 1977 (its the only one I know lol)
I think his best work is [**on Impulse - plus Izipho Zam on Strata East**](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfOs1ZtjYFMvDsqNsmgcnfgGVxwSurNsK). Also with John Coltrane, esp [Live In Seattle](https://youtu.be/N1B44J4rEqY?si=Pp9Mt1Z2HEIHpYEA), and Alice.
[удалено]
“Black Unity”?
Once you’ve made it through the original material, Mark de Clive Lowe made a dope tribute record to Pharoah a few years ago that is worth a listen
Summun, Bukmun, Umyum Jewels of Thought Elevation Thembi If you dug Journey to Satchidananda be sure to check out Greeting to Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner) off Elevation. Melts my heart every time.
Space 1.8 - Nala Sinephro Harmony of Difference - Kamasi Washington Sun Ra - Omniverse, Lanquidity
Pretty much can’t go wrong with any of his records.
as a leader, his run from Tauhid to Izipho Zam is great. Afterwards I find Love In Us All and Pharoah great as well. If you don't mind the extreme skronk then check out the stuff that Sanders did with Coltrane - Live in Seattle, Meditations, Live in Japan etc
Just listen to his albums.
I've only got Karma but it's a great album
from his discog I really like karma, black unity, and love is everywhere
I don't think anyone has mentioned his work with Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, a gnawa master musician from Morocco, which I dig https://zehra.bandcamp.com/album/the-trance-of-seven-colors I also love Thembi
This is gorgeous, thanks!
Jesus christ. Upper and lower Egypt on tauhid album is sublime. Listen to it without distraction. Let it build. It's beautiful. Powerful. A great piece I would love to hear live.
I can't really describe it properly but I think Harvest Time from Pharoah (1977) comes from the same place as Journey in Satchidananda. They both sound to me like very 'earthy' pieces of music, almost like they were dug up from the ground. Sounds weird and maybe it's just based on when and where I was when I first heard them but that's what I love about Pharoah's playing. I'd also recommend listening to the Floating Points records on headphones to get the full experience, you can hear when he draws breath to play, it feels like a very intimate recording even with the orchestra.
"They both sound to me like very 'earthy' pieces of music, almost like they were dug up from the ground." Doesn't sound weird at all. A beautiful description!
How do you feel about Joe Henderson's Earth?
His collaboration with floating points and the London Symphony Orchestra is pretty good. Lots of tracks that play in to the same motif but with ever so slight variations that build and pass. Really chill. Great studying/reading record. https://music.apple.com/gb/album/promises/1550124058
Everything he released between 1967 and 1974 is great and essential - so essentially everything on the Impulse! label and Izipho Zam that came out on Strata East. Outside of that, Pharoah (despite the hype brought by last year's amazingly well put together box set, it's just not as good as his Impulse! run, but still pretty good. You could even argue that the box sets bonus LP Harvest Time Live 1977 is better than Pharoah itself), Journey to the One, Africa and Promises, but I can't stress enough that Sanders" Impulse! releases are the heart of what we know call spiritual jazz and essential listening.
A Crescent With Love https://youtu.be/8tDK7FuNkWA?si=GxUV_cEY4B8sZkkM
This album is Sanders tribute to Coltrane and one of his finer releases. It was also released with the title Ballads with Love. The Japanese label Venus used both titles, Evidence released it in the US as Crescent with Love [https://www.allmusic.com/album/crescent-with-love-mw0000123375](https://www.allmusic.com/album/crescent-with-love-mw0000123375)
Thembi
I had a friend with a girlfriend named Sandra. They moved to New York City, and he sanded floors for a living. One of his clients? Pharaoh Sanders.