Influential Jazz Saxophone Great Pharoah Sanders Dies At 81
LOS ANGELES - Varroa Sanders, the influential saxophonist revered in the jazz world for the spirituality of his work, has died, his record label announced. He is 81 years old.
That year Sanders, known for his long career with John Coltrane in the 1960s, announced Saturday in Los Angeles that Luca Bopp, the label behind his 2021 album "Promises," had teamed up with electronic music producers Floating Points and the London Symphony. Orchestra in a statement. in twitter. The album was Sanders' first major new record in two decades.
The message did not explain why. A phone message left for Luca Bopp in New York was not immediately returned.
"Shocked to hear of Varroa Sanders passing away. Passed peacefully this morning in Los Angeles surrounded by loving family and friends. Rest in peace to the most beautiful human being ever and forever," he tweeted. Read with heart-shaped emoticons.
Born in 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Pharrell Sanders began playing the clarinet in church, but after studying tenor saxophone in high school, he began playing jazz and blues. As a teenager, Sanders would sneak into clubs to play with passing bands.
After moving to Oakland, California to live with relatives, he started his career. He moved to New York in 1961, played in an R&B band, and was temporarily homeless, guided by experimental pianist and jazz musician Sun Ra. It was Ra who encouraged him to start the name "Pharaoh" and invited him to play in the band's orchestra. A live recording of Nuisance was made in 1964 during Sanders' brief time in the band, but was not released until a decade later in 1976.
Sanders played with other mavericks, such as trumpeter Don Cherry and pianist Paul Bly, before joining the band Coltrane in 1965. During this time, Sanders developed his signature technique of creating harmonic notes on the saxophone. Like both. The musicians propelled the band from long recordings of Ascension and Om to free improv, as well as a series of live compilations commemorating Coltrane's untimely death in 1967 at the age of 40.
Sanders signs for Impulse! Records (the same label Coltrane ran until his death in the 1960s) and began releasing his signature jazz albums.
Among the saxophonist's most famous works are "Upper and Lower Egypt" from Tahuid's debut album with guitarist and future collaborator Sonny Sharrock and his two-part song "The Creator Has a Master Plan". The combined route takes about 33 minutes. Sanders continued to collaborate with Coltrane's wife, Alice, as well as singer Leon Thomas, on many of his records in the 1970s.
After his stint with Teresa in the 1980s, Sanders faced some disappointments in the recording industry and remained a presence at jazz clubs and festivals, despite not releasing a new album for a long time. Sanders Yoshi's original venue in North Oakland is a major venue, often playing there several weeks a year and appearing regularly at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
In He produced several excellent records in the 1990s, including a collaboration produced by Bill Lasswell with Malian musician Gnoua Mahmoud Gania in Morocco and a collaboration with Sharrock on the modern soul jazz classic The Ages . Charnet Moffett's bass talent. .
