Album review: Pharoah Sanders - Love is Here - The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (INA/Transcendence Sounds)

Pharoah Sanders (tenor sax, vocals); Danny Mixon (piano, organ); Calvin Hill (double bass); Greg Bandy (drums)

There’s been a lot of new Pharoah Sanders product in the last few years with only his being dead as the greatest obstacle to his being able to commercially exploit his continued release schedule. Since his demise we have had re-issues of a set called simply Pharoah, and of Izipho Zam(My Gifts) and two live albums, one, a 1980 live album from Fabrik in Hamburg and this double album recorded at the ORTF Studios in Paris on 17^th November 1975, (six tracks of which were released as a single LP in 2020). At least all those new fans who came on board with the Floating Pointscollaboration in 2022 have lots to go at. It’s hard to say which has been the best but this newest release has to be up there.

The opener, Improvisations with Pipe Organ, came about when the band found that the studio contained the instrument in question and, the sleeve notes report, Mixon was ‘determined to play it.’ It’s a wide ranging, ominous, broody piece with Sanders’ floating sax and Bandy’s thunderous drumming. Love Is Here (Parts1,2,and 3) follows with Sanders in full flow, blossoming from a role as part of a solidly grooving ensemble to a few moments of screeching lift off and an extended purely solo section in Part 2, full of riffles and squeals as he explores the acoustics in the room before the band step back in. Sanders’ Coltrane roots are evident in the feel of the piece with Mixon’s piano frills, over a wonderfully tight rhythm section with Hill in the driving seat, alternately taking the lead in his explorations and falling back into the groove with bass and drums. A furious drum solo and more boundary pushing sax from Sanders close off Part 2 before Part 3, a soulful, rolling blues, with Sanders whooping with joy in the background, brings in something much more elegant as if, having survived the storm, we now find ourselves somewhere more edenic.

Piano Medley/Pharoah’s Blues is a joyous celebration with more rolling rhythm and blues to open before a classically inspired section that covers all the ground between Tchaikovsky and Gershwin plus a bit of God Bless The Child. Hill and Bandy join up for some blues rooted in the deep south with Sanders bellowing that he has, in fact, “Got the blues” before emphasising that with some wild, soulful blowing. Some mellow swing and a growling bass solo round out the track. The Billy Eckstine written I Want To Talk About You is the foundation for some long notes and angular blowing by Sanders, which belies its supper club origins. It’s one of three tracks played in unstated homage to Coltrane as it was a tune that he had covered.

Disc two opens with a Coltrane composition, Moment’s Notice, from Blue Train. It’s celebratory and joyous, full of rapid tight twists and spirals with Sanders exploring the tenor’s full range from high squeals to low growls; Mixon’s solo has the same bounce and snap to it. A slimmed down reading of Pharoah’s big ‘hit’, The Creator Has A Master Plan, cut down from the original’s 32 minutes to 12 ½, still features the prominent title line and that distinctive rolling funk rhythm. As celebratory as the previous track and featuring more of Sanders’ swing before Mixon’s wide ranging piano solo; Sanders out on the edge behind him. He stays out there whilst Mixon hops back onto the organ stool for some magisterial chords providing a full cinemascope sound to the band with Bandy punctuating Sanders’ solo with some attention grabbing bomb drops. Hill plays around and, occasionally, back on the groove to keep things anchored.

Mixon shines on Ferrell’s Tune; his loooong solo is emphatically driven on by the rhythm section and Sanders contributes more whoops and bird calls in the background before joining in in mellow mood. Lazy Bird is another Coltrane tune from Blue Train. (It’s interesting that, for this concert at least, Sanders has chosen Coltrane tunes from several years before the two worked together, rather than pieces more associated with his time in Coltrane’s group.) It’s another fast paced, twisty, uplifting, bring-a-smile-to-your-face piece; pure jazz swing. They close out the party with more soulful grooves from the rhythm section whilst Pharoah declaims Love is Everywhere. The band are flying and it’s just marvellously life-affirming. Sanders explodes into his solo, howling and shouting before breaking off to call out the title again. The audience joins in, equally loud and it all sounds quite riotous. Sanders closing solo punches through, charging and swinging in turn before it all falls apart to the loudest of cheers from the crowd.

This is an excellent recording and Pharoah’s band are well served by the high quality of the recording and the packaging and sleeve notes. It was over optimistically priced when it was first released but is now less likely to break the band. Definitely an album worth getting!

Jazzwise’s army of scribes have voted this the top Archive/Reissue album of the year and they were very wise to do so in my occasionally humble opinion. Dave Sayer