Search - Pharoah Sanders, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake :: Spirits

One of 2000's best releases!

Stephen | Virginia Beach, VA USA | 01/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This concert, recorded in 1998 shows all three to be at the top of their game. The nearly 20 minute opening cut is absolutely beautiful. This is followed by "Morning" which is some what funky in parts-Morning fuses into the album's most intense cut "Thousand petalled Lotus." Drake and Rudolph are a superb percussion team. This set would be essential without Pharoah's contributions but man-Pharoah is on! Its nice to hear Sanders in a less "produced" environment were the players personalities really shine."

Inspired, Spiritual Music

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 08/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pharoah just keeps getting better and better! So many of the avant-gard musicians of his generation have fallen away...some into bitterness, some into obscurity (where is Marion Brown now? He was a hell of a player!) and some have embraced other roads such as jazz-fusion, smooth jazz, or neo-traditionalism. Pharoah has touched all of these trends at some point or another, but he has remained totally himself, deeply committed to what ever he does, exploratory and at the bottom of it all, a spiritual force to be reckoned with. Spirits shows that, despite the more traditional albums he's made in the 90's and despite the occasional forays into smooth jazz territory, he remains capable of raising the hair on the back of your neck, and transporting you somewhere else. This recording is taken from a live concert (though the liner notes don't say where) and features Sanders, the marvelous Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake on trap set and ethnic drums, and Adam Rudolph, a multiethnic percussionist and overtone singer. The results are magical. The album lists 10 numbers, but most of the pieces meld seamlessly into each other. The first and last cut are in Sanders "Eastern Tone Poem" style, utilizing drones and Indian instruments to create very beautiful and meditative works. But then, watch out! The pieces morph from the good natured to the completely out. The Thousand Petalled Lotus is a particular standout. It leaves you breathless!One of the things that I think gets missed so much when people listen to this sort of avant-garde music is that the music isn't about chaos, or anger, or neurotism. It's religious and it's roots are deep in African American culture and back even farther. If you listen to field recordings of Yoruba ceremonies, or their descendents in Brazil or Cuba, the sounds that Pharoah makes aren't so far fetched. Michael Tucker says in his impressive book Dreaming With Open Eyes, that the contemporary musician, particularly the contemporary jazz musician, is at heart a shaman, and the music isn't negative....it's uplifting. This certainly holds true in this work. Pharoah is a master shaman...his music is really about peace and healing, even at it's most tempestous. The best way to experience it is to just let yourself go, not to cerebrate about it, but to let it infect you and transport you. If you can do that, then the love and depth of the music will become self-evident. Peace to all who listen to this marvelous stuff."

A stripped-down take on Sanders' Verve output.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 10/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems so rare that a musician would maintain his fire into his third or fourth decade of music, and indeed, when one looks at Pharoah Sanders-- who pushed John Coltrane to his freeist and performed some of the greatest "fire music" of the late '60s and early '70s, one expects much the same, particularly in light of his willingness to explore other musical opportunities after his free jazz explorations had run their course. But one thing about Sanders is that he always maintained his fire, and his passion for exploration kept him looking. In the mid-90s, Sanders began a more organized and detailed investigation of world music and percussion. This set, recorded live in 1998, finds Sanders (primarily on tenor sax) in the company of trap drummer/tablaist Hamid Drake and percussionist/hand drummer Adam Rudolph. The results are simply astounding.



Feeling very much like a stripped down version of Bill Laswell-fueled "Message From Home" and "Save Our Children", the music by and large consists of Sanders improvising over a surface of percussion. Drake and Rudolph set up an amazing backdrop for him and Sanders is clearly inspired by the percussionists on this three-suite performance.



The opening suite (documented on the first track, "Sunrise") finds the trio in a meditative mood-- Sanders summons forth all his balladry, delicately stating the theme over drone and simple percussion, occasionally vocalizing rather than playing. It's one of those pieces that after nearly twenty minutes, you wish it'd keep going. This moves into the most jazz-inflected part of the performance-- a theme that feels related to Monk's "Well You Needn't" (something I noted in reviewing my Sanders CDs is how closely to Monk his songwriting tends to be) is stated over syncopated percussion before Sanders begins freely (and fiercely!) associating over the percussion backdrop.



The third suite is the most unique-- the percussion is taken down a notch to a more tribal and subtle, quieter feel and the leads are taken down with it, from overblows, gentle keenings, and flutes, occasionally coming to a boil and keeping attention but by and large sitting closer to a world vein than a jazz one. By the time it (and the hour long CD) wraps up, you're left wanting more.



For those familiar only with Sanders' early catalog, this may be a good place to begin exploring his later work, certainly it is a downright superb album. Highly recommended."