Cheap Spirits (Music) (Pharoah Sanders) Price

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Customer Reviews of Spirits

Inspired, Spiritual Music
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.

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One of 2000's best releases!
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.