Pharoah Sanders released over thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others.
20 Facts About Pharoah Sanders
2.
Pharoah Sanders' take on "spiritual jazz" was rooted in his inspiration from religious concepts such as Karma and Tawhid, and his rich, meditative performance aesthetic.
3.
Pharoah Sanders was born on October 13,1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
4.
Pharoah Sanders's mother worked as a cook in a school cafeteria, and his father worked for the City of Little Rock.
5.
An only child, Pharoah Sanders began his musical career accompanying church hymns on clarinet.
6.
Pharoah Sanders briefly studied art and music at Oakland City College.
7.
Pharoah Sanders began his professional career playing tenor saxophone in Oakland, then moved to New York City in 1962.
8.
Sun Ra's biographer wrote that Sanders was often homeless and Ra gave him a place to live, clothes, and encouraged him to use the name "Pharoah".
9.
Pharoah Sanders first recorded with Coltrane on Ascension, then on their dual-tenor album Meditations.
10.
Pharoah Sanders would go on to produce much free jazz, modified from Coltrane's solo-centric conception.
11.
The musicians playing with him were much more straightforward than Pharoah Sanders, which made the solos played by the other musicians a bit out of place.
12.
The years Pharoah Sanders spent with the label were both a commercial and critical success.
13.
In 1992, Sanders appeared on a reissue for the Evidence label of a recording that he completed for Theresa Records in 1979 entitled Ed Kelly and Friend.
14.
In 1994, Pharoah Sanders traveled to Morocco to record the Bill Laswell-produced album The Trance Of Seven Colors with Gnawa musician Mahmoud Guinia.
15.
Pharoah Sanders worked with Laswell, Jah Wobble, and others on the albums Message From Home and Save Our Children.
16.
Pharoah Sanders has a strong following in Japan, and in 2003 recorded with the band Sleep Walker.
17.
In 2000, Pharoah Sanders released Spirits and, in 2003, a live album titled The Creator Has a Master Plan.
18.
Pharoah Sanders was awarded an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for 2016 and was honored at a tribute concert in Washington DC on April 4,2016.
19.
In 2020, Pharoah Sanders recorded an album, Promises, with the English electronic music producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra.
20.
Pharoah Sanders died on September 24,2022, at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 81.