Sending out the love

Pharoah Sanders was born on the 13th October in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1940. As a jazz saxophonist he was known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques as well as his use of "sheets of sound", he played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world". His take on spiritual jazz was rooted in his inspiration from religious concepts such as karma and tawhid, and his rich, meditative performance aesthetic. This style was seen as a continuation of Coltrane's work on albums such as A Love Supreme. As a result, Pharoah was considered to have been a disciple of Coltrane or, as Albert Ayler said, "Trane was the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost".An only child, he began his musical career accompanying church hymns on clarinet. His initial artistic accomplishments were in the visual arts, but when he was at Scipio Jones High School in North Little Rock, he began playing the tenor saxophone.

After graduating from high school in 1959, he moved to Oakland, California, where he lived with relatives and briefly studied art and music at Oakland City College, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from an unknown art institution. Pharoah began his professional career playing tenor saxophone in Oakland, moving to New York City in 1962. 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". According to himself his grandmother had wanted to call him after pharaohs in the Bible but chose Ferrell instead. Upon joining the New York musicians' union, he chose "Pharoah" as an artist name. In 1965, he became a member of Coltrane's band, as the latter gravitated towards the avant-garde jazz of Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, and Cecil Taylor. Although Pharoah's voice developed differently from John Coltrane's, he was influenced by their collaboration. Spiritual elements such as the chanting in Om would later show up in many of his own works. He would also go on to produce much free jazz, modified from Coltrane's solo-centric conception. Most of Pharoah's best-selling work was made in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse Records, including the 30-minute wave-on-wave of free jazz "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from the album Karma. This composition featured vocalist Leon Thomas's unique, "umbo weti" yodeling, and Pharoah's key musical partner, pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, who worked with him from 1969 to 1971. Although supported by African-American radio, his brand of brave free jazz became less popular. From the experiments with African rhythms on the 1971 album Black Unity (with bassist Stanley Clarke) onwards he began to diversify his sound. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he explored different musical modes including R&B (Love Will Find a Way), modal jazz, and hard bop. Verve Records released Message from Home,(1995) followed by Save Our Children (1998).

In the 2000s, a resurgence of interest in jazz kept Pharoah playing festivals including the 2004 Bluesfest Byron Bay, the 2007 Melbourne Jazz Festival, and the 2008 Big Chill Festival, concerts, and releasing albums. He has a strong following in Japan, and in 2003 recorded with the band Sleep Walker. In 2000, he released Spirits and, in 2003, a live album titled The Creator Has a Master Plan. He was awarded an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for 2016 and was honoured at a tribute concert in Washington DC on April 4, 2016. In 2020, he recorded an album titled Promises, with the English electronic music producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. It was released in March 2021, the first major new album by him in nearly two decades. It was widely acclaimed, with Pitchfork declaring it "a clear late-career masterpiece". Very sadly Pharoah died on September 24th, 2022, at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 81. He leaves behind an amazing discography both as a leader and a sideman for many artists.

Our mission

We're on a mission to change the way radio is listened to. We want to show the love and appreciation to under played artists, who have given us such brilliant music but not given the exposure they deserve.

Our vision

To share the love and spread the vibe. Its rare for a reason and long may it stay that way, but now it doesn't have to be a rare occasion to hear quality.