Prior to becoming
not the double, nor the alter ego, but the partner of John Coltrane,
Farrell Sanders played blues and rock 'n roll before moving to NYC.
Destitute and living rough, he was helped and encouraged by Sun Ra
until he got a place in his Arkestra.
Perhaps Pharoah
Sanders’ past designated him as an ideal companion for the one who
wanted to attain the Universal Sound, understand the Cosmos and
perhaps even the Inner Cosmos.
Coltrane and Sanders had met several times, Pharoah seizing every opportunity to come and
listen to his elder (fourteen years separated them). It was in
September 1965, at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, that
things were decided: "John Coltrane told me that he was
rethinking changes in the group and asked me to play with him”,
said Sanders, who will remain with Trane until his untimely
death. Although capable of playing tonal and bebop as evidenced by
many of his performances and albums, Sanders especially pleased
Coltrane by his ability to free himself from any melodic concerns, which
Trane was not able to really ever do. Coltrane increased his
instruments’ range going ever higher in harmonics. Sanders, already
with a powerful sound went "beyond notes".
Our vocabulary is
poor for naming the sounds he gets from his tenor: screams, squeaks,
strident sounds, growling, shouting, but, always in tone. Whatever it
was, it increased tenfold what Coltrane expected from his group:
strength. The last point, as Trane will admit to Frank Kofsky,
Pharoah Sanders was able to support him physically, "because the
pace I lead is very hard".
Reference : Jazz Magazine (France), Francois-Rene Simon.
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