Karma (Pharoah Sanders album)
Encyclopedia
Karma is a 1969 jazz
recording by the American tenor saxophonist
Pharoah Sanders
.
. Many of the artists involved in the making of this new music, variously called ‘energy music’, ‘the new thing’, ‘free jazz’, and ‘spiritual jazz’, released records on Bob Thiele
’s Impulse! Records
label. As Kahn shows, several musicians, often those who had either played with or been influenced by John Coltrane, such as his widow Alice Coltrane
, Archie Shepp
, Pharoah Sanders
, and Leon Thomas
, began exploring new thematic and musical ideas, often associated with non-western religious and musical traditions. The new 'spiritual jazz' became a vehicle for exploring new musical and non-musical concepts, as well as for extended self-expression, laying bare "a mirror into the self," as Nat Henthoff put it in his liner notes to John Coltrane's incendiary 1966 recording Meditations
, on which Sanders was also featured.
Coltrane had begun the trend with his incorporation of elements of Indian and African music: as early as 1961, he recorded the song ‘India’ at the Village Vanguard with Ahmed Abdoul-Malik
on tampura, and, in 1965, he recorded ‘Kulu se Mama’ with narration in Entobes by Juno Lewis. The influence of African music was seen as a link to the heritage of the many black musicians involved in jazz, and with some, such as Archie Shepp, it became associated with a defiant expression of black identity, in the fight for freedom and equal rights. Characteristics of the music that was produced included an intense rhythmic focus, the use of exotic instrumentation, and extended, often dissonant, improvisation leading to states of ecstasy or transcendence (which, in some cases, such as that of John Coltrane’s late music, was linked to the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD
). Though the ideological strain was much more obvious in Shepp's music than Sanders', the musical influence was just as pronounced: virtually all of his recordings as a leader from this late 60s/early 70s period contain some kind of African percussion, and other non-western features such as Leon Thomas' distinctive yodelling, apparently learnt from African pygmies. In addition, his song titles, like Coltrane’s, often have religious significance: for instance, a tune recorded as ‘Prince of Peace’ on ‘Izipho Zam’ and ‘Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah’ on ‘Jewels of Thought’ (both 1969).
. Some see this piece as a kind of sequel to Sanders' mentor John Coltrane's legendary 1964 recording 'A Love Supreme
' (whose opening it echoes in a muscular yet lyrical opening ‘prelude’, with Sanders playing over a suspended, non-rhythmic backdrop, before the entrance of a bass figure which underpins much of the piece). It features Sanders on tenor sax, along with two of his most important collaborators, the aforementioned Leon Thomas and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, as well as a supporting cast of musicians who were major musicians in their own right: flautist James Spaulding; French-horn player Julius Watkins; bassist Reggie Workman, who had played with Coltrane earlier in the 60s; second bassist Richard Davis, who had appeared on Eric Dolphy’s landmark 'Out to Lunch
'; drummer Billy Hart, and percussionist Nathaniel Bettis. While later recorded versions of the tune, some of which featured Sanders and Thomas, became shorter and more lyrical, this original contains extended free instrumental sections, particularly the third section, where the saxophonist demonstrates some of the techniques which build his distinctive sound, including a split-reed technique, overblowing, and multiphonics, which give a ‘screeching’ sound.
On the whole, however, this was quite laid-back and accessible for a free-jazz record (compared to, say, Coltrane's 'Ascension'), with its mantra-like chant/melody, accessible, loping groove (which has since been sampled and covered by other artists - Sanders himself re-uses it on 'Heart is a Melody of Time (Hikoro's Song)' from his album 'Heart is a Melody') and optimistic, spiritually-themed lyrics. The unusual textures also give an impression of the exotic, with the employment of a French horn and flute, adding an almost orchestral tinge not often found in jazz, as well as Leon Thomas’ characteristic yodelling and a variety of percussion instruments. As Ian Scott Horst comments at jazzsupreme.com (see link at bottom of page), ‘The Creator’ “became a kind of anthem for those exploring the peace, love and happiness vibe through music.” Thus, despite its length, it actually achieved mainstream FM radio airplay, surely the closest the avant-garde movement came to a “hit”, apart from the cult classic 'A Love Supreme
', and its popularity with acid jazz and hip-hop artists (see below) attests to its continuing popular status. The influence of the ‘spiritual jazz’ movement, and Sanders’ involvement in particular, can be seen in Sarah Webster Fabio’s 1976 lyrics to ‘Jujus: Alchemy of the Blues’ (the theme music to Doug Schulkind’s show on WFMU radio (http://www.wfmu.org/~doug/)):
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
recording by the American tenor saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
.
Background
The social and political upheavals of the 1960s have been cited as a major factor in the emergence of a new stylistic trend in jazz, with a very different emphasis to previous sub-genres such as swing, be-bop and hard bopHard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
. Many of the artists involved in the making of this new music, variously called ‘energy music’, ‘the new thing’, ‘free jazz’, and ‘spiritual jazz’, released records on Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
’s Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
label. As Kahn shows, several musicians, often those who had either played with or been influenced by John Coltrane, such as his widow Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, and Leon Thomas
Leon Thomas
Amos Leon Thomas Jr was an American avant garde jazz singer from East St. Louis, Illinois.Thomas studied music at Tennessee State University. In the 1960s he was a vocalist for Count Basie and others....
, began exploring new thematic and musical ideas, often associated with non-western religious and musical traditions. The new 'spiritual jazz' became a vehicle for exploring new musical and non-musical concepts, as well as for extended self-expression, laying bare "a mirror into the self," as Nat Henthoff put it in his liner notes to John Coltrane's incendiary 1966 recording Meditations
Meditations (album)
Meditations is a 1965 album by John Coltrane. It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. Much of the recording is fairly avant-garde, featuring extensive passages in free rhythm and extended saxophone techniques such as honked and overblown notes, as well...
, on which Sanders was also featured.
Coltrane had begun the trend with his incorporation of elements of Indian and African music: as early as 1961, he recorded the song ‘India’ at the Village Vanguard with Ahmed Abdoul-Malik
Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Ahmed Abdul-Malik was a jazz double bassist and oud player of Sudanese descent....
on tampura, and, in 1965, he recorded ‘Kulu se Mama’ with narration in Entobes by Juno Lewis. The influence of African music was seen as a link to the heritage of the many black musicians involved in jazz, and with some, such as Archie Shepp, it became associated with a defiant expression of black identity, in the fight for freedom and equal rights. Characteristics of the music that was produced included an intense rhythmic focus, the use of exotic instrumentation, and extended, often dissonant, improvisation leading to states of ecstasy or transcendence (which, in some cases, such as that of John Coltrane’s late music, was linked to the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
). Though the ideological strain was much more obvious in Shepp's music than Sanders', the musical influence was just as pronounced: virtually all of his recordings as a leader from this late 60s/early 70s period contain some kind of African percussion, and other non-western features such as Leon Thomas' distinctive yodelling, apparently learnt from African pygmies. In addition, his song titles, like Coltrane’s, often have religious significance: for instance, a tune recorded as ‘Prince of Peace’ on ‘Izipho Zam’ and ‘Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah’ on ‘Jewels of Thought’ (both 1969).
Album information
‘Karma’ is Sanders’ third recording as a leader, perhaps the most famous of a number of spiritually-themed albums released on the Impulse record label in the late 60s/early 70s, which have ensured his reputation today. Although it is followed by the brief ‘Colors’, the album is most often remembered for one track, the 32-minute long ‘The Creator Has a Master Plan', co-composed by Sanders with vocalist Leon ThomasLeon Thomas
Amos Leon Thomas Jr was an American avant garde jazz singer from East St. Louis, Illinois.Thomas studied music at Tennessee State University. In the 1960s he was a vocalist for Count Basie and others....
. Some see this piece as a kind of sequel to Sanders' mentor John Coltrane's legendary 1964 recording 'A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme is a studio album recorded by John Coltrane's quartet in December 1964 and released by Impulse! Records in February 1965...
' (whose opening it echoes in a muscular yet lyrical opening ‘prelude’, with Sanders playing over a suspended, non-rhythmic backdrop, before the entrance of a bass figure which underpins much of the piece). It features Sanders on tenor sax, along with two of his most important collaborators, the aforementioned Leon Thomas and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, as well as a supporting cast of musicians who were major musicians in their own right: flautist James Spaulding; French-horn player Julius Watkins; bassist Reggie Workman, who had played with Coltrane earlier in the 60s; second bassist Richard Davis, who had appeared on Eric Dolphy’s landmark 'Out to Lunch
Out to Lunch (album)
Out to Lunch! was Eric Dolphy's only recording for Blue Note Records as a leader and was originally issued as BLP 4163 and BST 84163. Today it is generally considered one of the finest albums in the label's history, as well as one of the high points in 1960s jazz avant garde and in Dolphy's...
'; drummer Billy Hart, and percussionist Nathaniel Bettis. While later recorded versions of the tune, some of which featured Sanders and Thomas, became shorter and more lyrical, this original contains extended free instrumental sections, particularly the third section, where the saxophonist demonstrates some of the techniques which build his distinctive sound, including a split-reed technique, overblowing, and multiphonics, which give a ‘screeching’ sound.
On the whole, however, this was quite laid-back and accessible for a free-jazz record (compared to, say, Coltrane's 'Ascension'), with its mantra-like chant/melody, accessible, loping groove (which has since been sampled and covered by other artists - Sanders himself re-uses it on 'Heart is a Melody of Time (Hikoro's Song)' from his album 'Heart is a Melody') and optimistic, spiritually-themed lyrics. The unusual textures also give an impression of the exotic, with the employment of a French horn and flute, adding an almost orchestral tinge not often found in jazz, as well as Leon Thomas’ characteristic yodelling and a variety of percussion instruments. As Ian Scott Horst comments at jazzsupreme.com (see link at bottom of page), ‘The Creator’ “became a kind of anthem for those exploring the peace, love and happiness vibe through music.” Thus, despite its length, it actually achieved mainstream FM radio airplay, surely the closest the avant-garde movement came to a “hit”, apart from the cult classic 'A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme is a studio album recorded by John Coltrane's quartet in December 1964 and released by Impulse! Records in February 1965...
', and its popularity with acid jazz and hip-hop artists (see below) attests to its continuing popular status. The influence of the ‘spiritual jazz’ movement, and Sanders’ involvement in particular, can be seen in Sarah Webster Fabio’s 1976 lyrics to ‘Jujus: Alchemy of the Blues’ (the theme music to Doug Schulkind’s show on WFMU radio (http://www.wfmu.org/~doug/)):
“You prophesied the return of mandolins
and tambourines and tinkling bells,
and triangles and cymbals,
and they sided in on beams from Pharoah Sanders as I slept
taking me unaware, tripping,
blowing my mind.” (1976)
Track listing
- "The Creator Has a Master Plan" (Sanders, Thomas) (32:46)
- "Colors" (Sanders, Thomas) (5:37)
Personnel
- Pharoah SandersPharoah SandersPharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
- Sax (Tenor) - Leon ThomasLeon ThomasAmos Leon Thomas Jr was an American avant garde jazz singer from East St. Louis, Illinois.Thomas studied music at Tennessee State University. In the 1960s he was a vocalist for Count Basie and others....
- Percussion / Vocals - Julius WatkinsJulius WatkinsJulius Watkins was an American jazz musician, and one of the first jazz French horn players. He won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for "miscellaneous instrument" with French horn named as the instrument....
- French Horn - James Spaulding - Flute (on track 1)
- Lonnie Liston SmithLonnie Liston SmithLonnie Liston Smith, Jr. is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with important free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm /...
- Piano - Reggie WorkmanReggie WorkmanReginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey....
- Bass - Richard Davis - Bass (on track 1)
- Ron CarterRon CarterRon Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
- Bass (on track 2) - Billy HartBilly HartWilliam "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
- Drums (on track 1) - Freddie WaitsFreddie WaitsFreddie Douglas Waits was a hard bop and post-bop drummer.He was a member of Max Roach's M'Boom percussion orchestra....
- Drums (on track 2) - Nathaniel Bettis - Percussion (on track 1)