Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. He was known for his unique techniques on the saxophone, such as overblowing, using harmonies, and creating sounds with multiple tones at once. He also used a style called "sheets of sound." Sanders played an important part in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz. He was a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s and later created music on his own. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and worked with many musicians, including vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane. Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once said Sanders was "probably the best tenor player in the world."

Sanders' style of spiritual jazz was influenced by ideas from religion, such as karma and tawhid. His performances were deep and thoughtful, similar to the work of John Coltrane on albums like A Love Supreme. Because of this, Sanders was seen as a follower of Coltrane. Albert Ayler, another musician, said, "Trane was the Father, Pharoah was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost."

Early life

Pharoah Sanders was born on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother worked as a cook in a school cafeteria, and his father worked for the City of Little Rock. As an only child, Sanders began his musical journey by playing the clarinet to accompany church hymns. He first gained recognition for his work in the visual arts, but while attending Scipio Jones High School in North Little Rock, Sanders started playing the tenor saxophone.

After graduating from high school in 1959, Sanders moved to Oakland, California, to live with relatives. He briefly studied art and music at Oakland City College. He later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from an unknown art institution.

Career

Pharoah Sanders began his professional career playing the tenor saxophone in Oakland, California. In 1962, he moved to New York City. Sun Ra's biographer wrote that Sanders often did not have a place to live and that Ra helped him by giving him a home, clothes, and encouraging him to use the name "Pharoah." Sanders said his grandmother wanted to name him after the pharaohs in the Bible but chose "Ferrell" instead. When Sanders joined the New York musicians' union, he chose "Pharoah" as his artist name. At first, the name was sometimes spelled incorrectly as "pharaoh."

By 1963, Sanders was playing with musicians like Billy Higgins and Don Cherry. He caught the attention of Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. In 1965, Sanders became a member of Coltrane's band, as Coltrane was interested in the experimental jazz styles of Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, and Cecil Taylor. Sanders first recorded with Coltrane on the album Ascension (recorded in June 1965), then on the dual-tenor album Meditations (recorded in November 1965). After this, Sanders joined Coltrane's final group, where he often played long, unusual solos. Coltrane's later style was influenced by Sanders.

Although Sanders' musical style developed differently from Coltrane's, their collaboration influenced Sanders. Spiritual elements, such as the chanting in Om, later appeared in many of Sanders' works. Sanders also created free jazz, which he adapted from Coltrane's focus on solo performances. In 1968, Sanders participated in the album The Jazz Composer's Orchestra by Michael Mantler and Carla Bley, which included musicians like Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Larry Coryell, and Gato Barbieri.

Pharoah's first album, Pharoah's First, was not what he expected. The musicians he worked with were more traditional, making their solos seem out of place. Starting in 1966, Sanders signed with the label Impulse! and recorded Tauhid, which was released the following year. His time with Impulse! was both commercially and critically successful.

In the 1970s, Sanders continued to make his own recordings and worked with Alice Coltrane on Journey in Satchidananda. Most of Sanders' best-selling work was created in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse!. Notably, the 30-minute piece "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from the spiritual free-jazz album Karma featured vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, who worked with Sanders from 1969 to 1971. Other members of his groups during this time included bassist Cecil McBee, who appeared on albums like Jewels of Thought, Izipho Zam, Deaf Dumb Blind, and Thembi.

Although supported by African-American radio, Sanders' style of free jazz became less popular. From the 1971 album Black Unity (with bassist Stanley Clarke), he began to diversify his sound. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Sanders explored different musical styles, including R&B (Love Will Find a Way), modal jazz, and hard bop. Sanders left Impulse! in 1973 and worked with other labels, such as Theresa, which was sold to Evidence in 1991.

In 1979, Sanders completed an album titled Ed Kelly and Friend for Theresa Records. It was reissued in 1992 by Evidence as Ed Kelly and Pharoah Sanders, with additional tracks featuring Sanders' student Robert Stewart. In 1994, Sanders traveled to Morocco to record The Trance of Seven Colors with Gnawa musician Mahmoud Guinia, produced by Bill Laswell. That same year, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, performing "This is Madness" with Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole, and a bonus track "The Creator Has a Master Plan (Trip Hop Remix)." The album was named "Album of the Year" by Time. He also collaborated with drummer–composer Franklin Kiermyer on Solomon's Daughter, released on the Evidence label (re-released with three unreleased tracks on Dot Time in 2019).

Sanders returned to a major label in 1995 with Message from Home under Verve Records. This was followed by Save Our Children (1998). In both, Sanders worked with Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble, and others. However, his dissatisfaction with the recording industry led him to leave the label. In 1997, he appeared on several Tisziji Muñoz albums, including one with Rashied Ali. In 1999, he mentioned in an interview that he had difficulty finding work despite his artistic achievements.

In the 2000s, renewed interest in jazz kept Sanders performing, releasing albums, and playing festivals, including the 2004 Bluesfest Byron Bay, the 2007 Melbourne Jazz Festival, and the 2008 Big Chill Festival. In 2000, Sanders released Spirits. In 2003, he recorded with the Japanese band Sleep Walker (he has a strong fan base in Japan) and released a live album titled The Creator Has a Master Plan (not to be confused with the single). He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2016 and honored at a tribute concert in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 2016.

In 2020, Sanders recorded an album titled Promises with English electronic music producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. It was released in March 2021, the first major new album by Sanders in nearly two decades. The album was widely praised, with Pitchfork calling it "a clear late-career masterpiece." Promises was the last album Sanders released before his death.

Sanders died on September 24, 2022, at his home in Los Angeles, at the age of 81. Luaka Bop publicly announced his death. The cause of death was not specified.