Ferrell Sanders came out of Little Rock, Arkansas and hooked up with Mr. Herman "Sonny" Blount, who preferred to be known as Sun Ra and dubbed Sanders "Pharoah." A little later a guy named Coltrane asked Pharoah to join his quintet, and the jazz world at large was introduced to the man one reviewer referred to as "the torch-mouthed screamer of the reeds." In those days he
gained fame and notoriety for adding a tenor sound that seemed truly not of this world to blazing Coltrane recordings including Meditations, Live in Seattle, Ascension, Kulu Se Mama, and Live at the Village Vanguard Again.
At the same time he began to record a series of solo albums for Impulse! which contained the same ferocity but also a big round-toned gentleness, a heart-of-gold beneath ts that were simply gorgeous. On sprawling, 20-minute-plus, meditative pieces like "Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt," "The Creator Has a Master Plan," "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah," "Summun, Bukmun, Umyun," and "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord," Sanders laid the groundwork for what is now known as "world music," blending rain-forest percussion and flutes with his unique brand of fiery lyricism.
After leaving Impulse! in the mid-Seventies, Sanders struck out in a new direction, returning to more conventional jazz forms and developing his lyrical side while integrating his passio by Evidence, and they're a gift to everyone who loves great music. Pharoah's playing is more beautiful than ever,
and he moves from straight-ahead acoustic numbers to gorgeous ballads to modal workouts with fluent ease.
More recently Pharoah has recorded a few noteworthy albums in collaboration with others, including the beguiling Trance of Seven Colors with Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and Solomon's Daughter with Franklin Kiermyer. His solo efforts have sometimes headed in the direction of electric funk, somewhat obscuring his great tenor sound; but when you can hear Pharoah, no one sounds better.
