Influential jazz saxophone great Pharoah Sanders dies at 81
LOS ANGELES -- Pharoah Sanders, the influential tenor saxophonist revered in the jazz world for the spirituality of his work, has died, his record label announced. He was 81.
Sanders, also known for his extensive work alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s, died in Los Angeles early Saturday, said the tweet from Luaka Bop, the label that released his 2021 album, "Promises," a collaboration with electronic music producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album was the first major new recording for Sanders in two decades.
The post did not specify a cause. A phone message to Luaka Bop in New York was not immediately returned.
"We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away. He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace," said the label's message on Twitter, accompanied by a heart emoji.
Born Farrell Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1940, Sanders got his start in music playing clarinet in church, but began playing jazz and blues after taking up the tenor saxophone in high school. As a teen, Sanders would sneak into clubs to play with touring bands that were passing through.
He would start his professional career after moving to Oakland, California, to live with relatives. He relocated to New York City in 1961, where he played in R&B bands and was homeless for a time before being taken in by experimental jazz pianist and band leader Sun Ra. It was Ra who encouraged him to start using the name "Pharaoh" and invited him to play in his group, the Arkestra. A live recording was made of a concert in 1964 during Sanders brief time in the band, but it was not released until over a decade later in 1976.
Sanders also played with other mavericks like trumpet player Don Cherry and pianist Paul Bley before he joined Coltrane's band in 1965. By that time, Sanders had developed his trademark technique of overblowing to create harmonic overtones with his saxophone, a style that would influence Coltrane as the two musicians push the ensemble towards more free improvisation on the expanded group recording Ascension and Om, as well as a slew of live recordings made up until Coltrane's untimely death in 1967 at the age of 40.
Sanders would be signed to Impulse! Records (the same label Coltrane was on during the '60s until his passing) and began issuing his own spiritual jazz albums for the imprint.
Among the saxophonist's best-known works were "Upper and Lower Egypt" from his debut for the label Tahuid which featured guitarist and future collaborator Sonny Sharrock and his two-part epic tune "The Creator Has a Master Plan," from the Karma album. The combined track is nearly 33 minutes long. Sanders also continued to collaborate with Coltrane's wife Alice on many of her recordings into the '70s as well as vocalist Leon Thomas.
While Sanders experienced some disillusionment with the recording industry and went for long stretches without releasing new albums after his stint with Theresa in the '80s, he remained a constant presence at jazz clubs and festivals. Sanders moved back to the East Bay in 1986 and remained a Bay Area resident for a number of years. He was a fixture at the original Yoshi's location in North Oakland, often playing several weeklong residencies there a year in addition to making regular appearances at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
He would continue to make groundbreaking recordings through the '90s, including the Bill Laswell produced collaboration with Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania in Morocco and the reunion with Sharrock for the modern spiritual-jazz classic Ask the Ages that also featured longtime Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones and bass virtuoso Charnett Moffett..
