Pharoah Sanders: PHAROAH 2LP Expanded Edition (Luaka Bop)

Somewhat over the top box set reissue/reevaluation of one of Sanders’s harder to find (at non-insane collector prices) releases.

Originally released on the India Navigation label in 1977, this release was a poor seller, plagued by questionable recording quality and panned by many, including the composer himself. Sanders and the one-off band assembled for this session step a bit afield of the more well known and intense Impulse releases but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t worth your time.

This reissue seeks to reestablish/recontextualize the record in the Sanders catalog (with the blessing of the man himself) and is clearly a work of love/scholarship/dedication. The real standout here is “Harvest Time,” which is presented in three versions: the remastered track from the original LP, along with two different live versions on the bonus album here. The three versions simmer along nicely with the players revealing and discovering different nuances in each iteration, particularly in the live dynamic recorded in Willisau and Middelheim in 1977.

“Love Will Find a Way” is lovely in spite of (or because of!!) Sanders’s untrained vocals, the enthusiasm seemingly teetering on the edge of chaos is infectious.

Worth the purchase price for the versions of “Harvest Time” and the essays/interviews in the book alone, the rest is icing on the cake.

—Rich Mudge (Dec 2023)