Black Unity personnel: Pharoah Sanders (ts, as, balafon); Carlos Garnett (ts, fl); Hannibal Marvin Peterson [Hannibal Lokumbe] (tr); Joe Bonner (p); Cecil McBee (b, perc); Stanley Clarke (el b); Billy Hart (d); Norman Connors (d); Lawrence Killian (perc)
Thembi recorded on November 25, 1970 and January 12, 1971; originally released 1971.
Black Unity recorded on November 24, 1971; originally released 1972.
Released as part of Impulse's superb "2-on-1" series, this CD features Pharoah Sanders' seventh and eighth LPs on a single disc. Despite the fact that these recordings were all made around the same time, the two LPs work very differently. Ed Michel and Bill Szymczyk produced Thembi. Michel followed Bob Thiele at Impulse, playing an important role in the label's continued relevance into the 1970s. Bill Szymczyk, on the other hand, is more well-known for producing rock (James Gang) and blues (B.B. King) performers. Lee Young produced Black Unity. The younger brother of saxophone legend Lester Young, Lee began his career in music as a drummer. Later, he moved into production, starting out at Chicago's Vee-Jay Records before coming to ABC, the parent company of Impulse. Black Unity was the first time that Young and Sanders worked together. They went on to make three more albums for Impulse: Live at the East (1972), Wisdom Through Music (1973), and Love in Us All (1974).
In 1967, Pharoah Sanders released his first album as a leader, Tauhid. Over the course of the next few years, most of Sanders' albums featured expansive, lengthy performances that often filled entire LP sides. In fact, Black Unity consists of one 37-minute long track. (On vinyl, it had to be divided in the middle, giving the listener an opportunity to flip the record.) Thembi is much more conventionally structured, with original vinyl release consisting of three songs per side.
Lonnie Liston Smith's Fender Rhodes electric piano is a dominant voice on Thembi, and his presence often gives the album a "kozmigroove" vibe. Black Unity offers a very different sort of groove. Rather than Liston Smith's distinctive Fender Rhodes, the most impressive aspect of Black Unity is Sander's and Hannibal Marvin Peterson's soaring flights over the surging and complex rhythms laid down by two bassists (Stanley Clarke and Cecil McBee), two drummers (Billy Hart and Norman Connors), and a percussionist (Norman Killian). It's a unique sound that's grand and orchestral, somehow swinging and funky and free, all at once. Factor in the primeval and earthy rhythms coming from Sanders' balafon, and it's a heady mixture.
I suppose the structure of Thembi makes Sanders' music less forbidding and more approachable (assuming you set aside the raucous, late-Coltrane-inspired blasts on "Red, Black & Green"). But, ironically, there's something about the rhythms and the relentlessness of Black Unity that make it even more appealing. Of course, you may feel differently. The wonderful thing about this "2-on-1" release is that you and I don't have to choose between them. We can hear two of Sanders' strongest LPs on one disc.
More Pharoah Sanders
For more Pharoah in the 70s, I would recommend another "2-on-1" release: Village of the Pharoahs / Wisdom Through Music (Impulse, 2011). Marginally less powerful but still potent music.
Hey Scott, you're cheating with those 2 in 1 albums :)
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of good music in 70s Pharoahs albums.
I advice anyone who like his music to check the fantastic "Anthology: You've Got to Have Freedom"