The recent release of the Sam Shepherd/Pharoah Sanders collaboration has taken many people by surprise, the biggest one being how good it is. When I listened to the download the morning it was released, I realised it would have an ambient vibe right through the entire piece. And that wasn't a disappointment, it just seemed to hit the right spot at the right time for me. This hitting the right spot feeling was echoed in many of the online comments and reviews. I'm not attempting to review the album here, just attempting to place Sanders in the contemporary context of this record. When Sanders came to prominence in John Coltrane's band, Trane had been looking to move in a much more avant garde direction. During this period in 1965, Coltrane's musical development was stellar, (and fortunately much of it was recorded by Impulse). Trane wanted to expand his quartet format by adding some of the younger musicians breaking through onto the scene, in live settings, and also in t...
Jamo Spingal