Pharoah Sanders, the revered tenor saxophonist who extended the boundaries of his instrument, notably alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s, has died at the age of 81.
Pharoah Sanders, the revered and influential tenor saxophonist who explored and extended the boundaries of his instrument, notably alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s, died on Saturday morning in Los Angeles.
That combination of traits characterized Sanders' defining solo work of the '70s on Impulse! Records, which had been Coltrane's label home, and was still a welcoming harbor for experimentalism. Among these albums are, which nudges a post-Coltrane language into the realm of Afrocentric groove. Sanders' single best-known piece of music is"The Creator Has a Master Plan," an expansive performance from 1969 that peaks in wailing cacophony but ends with a buoyant, soulful vocal refrain. Originally split across two sides of the 1969 LPPharoah was born Ferrell Sanders on Oct. 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Ark. His love of music began at home, through his choir-leading grandfather.
In 1961, Sanders relocated to New York, looking to join the city's fecund jazz scene, where Coltrane was a reigning figure. Sanders' landing in New York was rocky, however, resulting in intermittent homelessness as he practiced, sporadically, with Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Eventually, he was forced to pawn his horn.
Sanders' fortunes in New York slowly but surely turned around as he established a solo career, and by 1965 he was a member of what would be Coltrane's final quartet., recorded in 1965 and released the following year, was a late-in-life turning point for Coltrane and, by extension, Sanders, who would become known for using his instrument in novel — anarchic and atonal — ways.
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