Jazz Police - Pharoah Sanders with Zakir Hussain at Yoshi's in San Francisco, Jun 25-28

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Pharoah Sanders with Zakir Hussain at Yoshi's in San Francisco, Jun 25-28

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Sunday, 14 March 2010

Pharoah Sanders with Zakir Hussain at Yoshi's in San Francisco, Jun 25-28

Written by Ronaldo Oregano

Monday, 22 June 2009

Pharoah Sanders and Zakir Hussain (Zakir Husain photo by Susana Millman)

Jazz legend Pharoah Sanders will perform with his band and special guest, tabla master Zakir Hussain on Thursday, June 25th through Sunday, June 28th at Yoshi's in San Francisco. Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, Sanders' sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. Yet, Sanders is highly regarded to the point of reverence by a great many jazz fans. Although he made his name with expressionistic free jazz in John Coltrane's late ensembles of the mid-'60s, Sanders' later music is guided by more graceful concerns. The hallmarks of Sanders' playing at that time were naked aggression and unrestrained passion. In the yearsafter Coltrane's death, however, Sanders explored other, somewhat gentler and perhaps more cerebral avenues -- without, it should be added, sacrificing any of the intensity that defined his work as an apprentice to Coltrane.

Pharoah Sanders

Ferrell Sanders was renamed "Pharoah" by Sun Ra when he joined Ra's Arkestra. Then Sanders joined the cadre of avant-garde saxophone pioneers of the time: Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp. Pharoah Sanders possesses an instantly identifiable tone that is thick and harmonically rich and heavy with overtones- a sound that can be as aggressive and raspy as Peter Brotzman. Coltrane's later style was strongly influenced by Sanders. Sanders first really captured the publics attention while playing with expressionistic and wide-open free jazz in John Coltrane's late ensembles of the mid-'60s. Sanders' later music has become more lyrical and soulful while continuing to explore new harmonic terrain.

Pharoah Sanders formed his first group in 1963, with pianist John Hicks (with whom he would continue to play off-and-on into the '90s), bassist Wilbur Ware, and drummer Billy Higgins. His first record as a leader was in 1964 for the ESP label. The group played an engagement at New York's Village Gate, where John Coltrane heard him and by 1965, Sanders was playing regularly with the Coltrane group. Strength was a necessity in that band, and as Coltrane realized, Sanders had it in abundance.

Zakir Hussain © Susana Millman

After John Coltrane's death in 1967, Sanders worked briefly with his widow, Alice Coltrane, and then primarily as a leader of his own ensembles. From 1966-1971, Sanders released several albums on Impulse, including Tauhid (1966), Karma (1969), Black Unity (1971), and Thembi (1971). In the mid-'70s, Sanders recorded his most commercial effort, Love Will Find a Way (Arista, 1977); it turned out to be a brief detour. From the late '70s until 1987, he recorded for the small independent label Theresa. From 1987, Sanders recorded for the Evidence and Timeless labels. The former bought Theresa records in 1991 and subsequently re-released Sanders' output for that company. In 1995, Sanders made his first major-label album in many years, Message From Home (produced by Bill Laswell for Verve). The two followed that one up in 1999 with Save Our Children. In 2000, Sanders released Spirits -- a multi-ethnic live suite with Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph. In the decades after his first recordings with Coltrane, Sanders developed the capability of playing convincingly in a variety of contexts, from free to mainstream, and as a mature artist he has discovered a hard-edged lyricism that has served him well.

Tabla master Zakir Hussain is revered both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, India, but earned him worldwide fame. His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study. The favorite accompanist for many of India's greatest classical musicians and dancers, he has not let his genius rest there.

Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir's contribution to world music has been unique, with many historic collaborations including Shakti, which he founded with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar in the early 1970’s, the Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Mickey Hart, Tabla Beat Science, Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland and recordings and performances with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Rennie Harris and the Kodo drummers of Japan

Yoshi’s in San Francisco is located at 1330 Fillmore. Visit www.yoshis.com for ticket information.

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