Search - Pharoah Sanders :: Thembi

Intoxicating...

W. Decker | 04/01/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A pretty decent album. It's very coherent to my ear but some negative reviews might have expected the direction of one song to be the style of the whole album ...



Astral Traveling --- very chill tune, nice twisting, delicate horn work, a background

of tribal beats (more intense on "morning prayer")



Red, Black & Green ---- free-form jam -- occasionally these pieces can grate with their atonal

nature or freaked out lack of structure -- but here it is controlled mayhem.

As the instruments interplay, one always has a solid groove going to create a

"bed" for the rest of the players. Nice change of pace, as this is the only

tune of this ilk in the set.





THEMBI - Nice tune, the lightest of the set. Others have raved about this one, but it sometimes

veers dangerously reminiscent of a Kenny G-ish vibe. (maybe it's just me)



Love -- Others have said it --- cool bass solo --- even if you dread bass solos



Morning Prayer --- Awesome, groovy and TRANCE-LIKE. If you were still up in the air about this

album this track will suck you in. An extension of Astral Traveling ....



Bailophone - percussive ending that does justice to its predecessors





I think with any jazz album, it's just what you're into at the time. This is a 3 1/2 star disc.

Certainly worth owning. I must admit ignorance of Pharoah Sanders other stuff, so some of the reviewers who

say he has better albums are probably accurate.

"