Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders was born Ferrell Lee Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 13, 1940. His mother taught piano privately while his father taught music in public schools. Sanders began on clarinet, accompanying church hymns in childhood. He switched to tenor saxophone in high school under bandmaster Jimmy Cannon’s guidance. His early influences included Harold Land, James Moody, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. As a teenager, Sanders played blues gigs backing Bobby “Blue” Bland and Junior Parker around Little Rock for modest pay. He relocated to Oakland in 1959 to attend Oakland Junior College.

Sanders moved to New York City in 1961 and struggled initially—pawning his horn, working non-musical jobs, and occasionally sleeping on the subway. He performed with free jazz musicians including Sun Ra, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins. Sun Ra urged him to adopt the name “Pharoah” in the early 1960s. In 1963, Coltrane discovered Sanders outside the Half Note club and invited him inside to play. Their formal collaboration began two years later. Sanders recorded with Coltrane on two essential recordings: “Ascension” in June 1965 featured eight horns and marked Coltrane’s full embrace of free jazz. “Meditations,” recorded in November 1965, showcased extended dual-tenor dialogues between the two musicians. Sanders employed multiphonic techniques and overblowing to expand the saxophone’s vocabulary. He remained in Coltrane’s group through 1967, appearing on live sessions before Coltrane’s death that year.

Sanders led his own sessions for Impulse! Records starting in 1967. “Tauhid” that year introduced his leadership approach with modal and spiritual material. “Karma” in 1969 featured the extended composition “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith. This album established Sanders’ signature sound blending spirituality and modal jazz. He continued releasing albums through the early 1970s: “Jewels of Thought” in 1970, “Thembi” in 1971, and “Black Unity” in 1972. Sanders collaborated with pianist Alice Coltrane on “Journey In Satchidananda” in 1971 and “Ptah, The El Daoud” in 1970, where his tenor and soprano work merged with her harp playing. These recordings created definitive spiritual jazz documents that reflected pan-African and liberation themes.

Sanders left Impulse! in the mid-1970s and recorded for Theresa, Evidence, and Verve labels. “Journey to the One” in 1980 with pianist John Hicks and drummer Idris Muhammad became his touring template. His late-career recordings included “Africa” in 1987 and “Message From Home” in 1996, sustaining his commitment to modal and spiritual approaches. The NEA recognized Sanders as a Jazz Master in 2015 after five decades of innovation. His final recording, “Promises” in 2021, paired him with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra for a contemporary collaboration. Sanders died at his Los Angeles home on September 24, 2022, at age 81. His legacy rests on expanding the tenor saxophone’s expressive range through extended techniques while maintaining deep spiritual conviction throughout his career.