Celebrating the Life & Music of Pharoah Sanders @ Prohibition Bar - Oct. 2

Sue Ferris (tenor sax, flute); Josh Bentham (tenor sax, soprano sax); Tom Atkinson (guitar, vocals); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Jeff Armstrong (drums)

A couple of days after Pharoah Sanders died Tom Atkinson contacted a bunch of fellow musicians to see who was available to pay tribute to the influential post-bop, free jazz-inclined American saxophonist. Within the week a gig had been arranged and publicised and at half past seven or thereabouts on Sunday evening a five piece band took to the stage at Prohibition Bar.

No rehearsal, a last minute change to the advertised line-up, Atkinson and co. hit the ground running. Announcements were kept to a minimum - nothing new there! - as bandleader Atkinson preferred to let the music speak for itself. Sanders' standards repertoire didn't feature at all, nor the full-on post-Trane material. What we got was Sanders, some Sonny Sharrock and a whole lotta excellent musicianship from the sight reading quintet. 

Middle period Sanders yielded Sonny Sharrock's Promises Kept and the set-closing The Creator Has a Master Plan. Throughout an extended, one set performance, guitarist Atkinson, the reeds of Sue Ferris and Josh Bentham, bassist Jude Murphy (pitching up from an earlier engagement) and drummer Jeff Armstrong produced a fine tip-of-the-hat to Sanders. In the engine room Armstrong was a picture of concentration, Murphy's sight-reading of pulsating bass charts couldn't have been bettered. And then there was Ferris, absolutely nailing her solos, and full marks to Bentham for stepping in and more than doing a job. 

Tom Atkinson should be congratulated for playing this kind of material which, by and large, has been sidelined. On the local Tyneside jazz scene - and no doubt elsewhere - as a rule it's either bop or contemporary, the bit in between, that's Sanders and his fellow travellers, have been largely forgotten. More power to Atkinson's musical elbow. Russell