Pharoah Sanders

Great music and great musicians are often only appreciated when they are gone. Thankfully Pharoah Sanders is very much with us but I read an interview today where he said he doesn’t get enough work. ‘I’d like to work more’ he said ‘but nobody calls me’. I would pay Pharoah Sanders 5 grand to come and do a personal appearance in my lounge tonight. And I know 5 friends who would pay their share of the cut.

One of jazz music’s greatest ever saxophonists can’t get enough work. A man whose ‘sheets of sound’ graced John Coltrane’s ‘Ascension’, whose late sixties albums produced a whole new idiom of what we might call spiritual jazz and whose album ‘Journey to the One’ to me is the signing off point for a fabulous era of black American music. ‘You’ve Got to Have Freedom’ being just a joyous dance anthem.

I have seen Pharoah live a few times. The first time was at Dingwalls in Camden. For the first hour I stood right at the back and couldn’t really see or hear properly. I then popped to the loo and had to pass near the stage. I and Mike, John and Caroline who were with me (Arkangel did you leave this one?) were never further than 3m away from the stage for the next three hours. He was mesmerising, magnificent. He played for ever and you sensed he was absolutely at the top of his game. He just did not want to stop. It was the closest thing I will ever see to his mentor Coltrane. Pianist William Henderson and Steven Neil on bass were at their best too.

At about 1am he had to wind up. 500 of us sweating and drunk on atmosphere stood silent when he clanged a huge gong. One of the most surreal moments in my life was absolute silence in a heaving jazz club for around 3 minutes when for 4 hours before the place was a musical party. Someone coughed and he clanged his gong again. We laughed and obediently fell silent. Marvellous. I feel a few tears at the memory of it.

I still have the review of the gig from the Independent. ‘In Dingwalls last night all heaven broke loose…’. Sometimes I wonder if reviewers ever go to concerts. This reviewer was most definitely there.

And this man can’t get enough work!