Pharoah Sanders: Tauhid

Another master musician has left us with the death of the great saxophonist Pharoah Sanders last Saturday at age 81.  He was best known for his upper register screaming when he joined John Coltrane's band in 1965 and he definitely divided listeners who either hated the "shrill tones" or were enthralled by the sheer passion he generated.

Coltrane was obviously wanting a counterpoint to his own playing, which was becoming increasingly "avant garde" as he entered the last few years of his all-too-short life.  In some ways, Sanders provided much the same role that Eric Dolphy had in his short tenure in 1961, though the groundswell of intense negative criticism that the amazing Dolphy faced was more muted because, by 1965, change was clearly coming.

Championed by Coltrane, Sanders was given a contract with Impulse! and he recorded a string of always-interesting albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, even as they went into the far reaches of jazz at a time when the genre lost a great many listeners.  Sanders' music changed, as to be expected, over subsequent years, but one of my all-time favorite albums was when uber-producer and bassist Bill Laswell brought in Sanders to play on the phenomenal Sonny Sharrock recording, Ask the Ages (1991), with the saxophonist playing with the searing passion not heard for a long time.

I had the opportunity to see Sanders play live in the Nineties at the original Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood and was really grateful that I had the chance to hear him.  The featured album for this post is his first Impulse! set, Tauhid, recorded in November 1966 and released early the following year, not long before Coltrane's death.

It is, as all of Sanders' recordings were then, heavily spiritual and full of diversity in conception and playing, with the stunning "Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt," the brief but beautiful "Japan," (inspired by the 1966 tour of that nation by the Coltrane ensemble) and the remarkable three-part suite, "Aum," "Venus," and "Capricorn Rising."  The musicians include Sharrock, in one of his first recordings before he left music and then was found by Laswell and his career resurrected in spectacular fashion; the sensitive and understated Dave Burrell on piano; the underappreciated Henry Grimes on bass; drummer Roger Blank; and percussionist Nat Bettis, whose colorations really help flesh out much of this recording.

We're seeing so many great musicians departing and, while this is always saddening, the consolation, of course, is that we can revisit the amazing work they produced and with the sublime Pharoah Sanders, there is so much to enjoy and appreciate.  May he rest in peace!

Aleksandr Borodin: Symphony No. 2/In the Steppes of Central Asia/Prince Igor (Excerpts)

Aleksandr Borodin (1833-1887) was, in one important respect, not unlike Charles Ives, though not necessarily in their approach to composing music.  That is, whereas Ives was an insurance company executive by profession and composed on his free time, Borodin also had a prime profession in that he was a scientist with a specialty in chemical research.

Born out of wedlock to a prince from the Russian province of Georgia and an army doctor's wife, Borodin lived an upper-class existence and studied at the Medico-Surgery Academy in St. Petersburg, earning his doctorate there and conducting post-graduate work in western Europe.  He became an adjunct professor at the Academy and, in 1864, a full professor and he continued his research and teaching for the next 23 years, while also composing music.

His second symphony was completed in 1869 and Borodin was known for using Russian folk motifs, but employing unusual harmonies, a strong sense of rhythm and a distinctive use of color in his orchestrations.  There are powerful, intense passages full of tension, but also quiet, pastoral sections of great beauty in this diverse work.  His tone poem, "In the Steppes of Central Asia," was finished in 1880 for the silver anniversary of the reign of Tsar Alexander II, who pushed Russian expansion into that vast region.  The composer's notes refer to the silence of the steppes, reflected in the hushed opening and than an Asian melodic strain and the arrival of caravan moving through the desert, with Russian and Asian melodies in harmony before the trail away as the caravan disappears into the distance.  

"Prince Igor" was the sole opera from Borodin, though it was nowhere near completed when he died suddenly at 53, so the great composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksandr Glazunov finished it, adding much of their own ideas to the sketches their late friend left behind.  The story was of a 12th century Russian hero and the overture and march reflect the martial and nationalist Russian spirit with soaring passages, beautiful melodies and rich harmonies.  The Polovtsian Dances are frequently performed, with its famous theme and its sprightly as well as propulsive rhythms widely beloved.

In all, this RCA Victor recording from 1977 by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Iranian-Armenian composer and conductor Loris Tjeknavorian, who is still living, is dynamic, powerful, beautiful and well-recorded and was a great introduction to Borodin.