Clad in an iridescent blue dashiki and sandals, Pharoah Sanders shuffles across the stage at SF Jazz Center, clutching his tenor saxophone. The crowd roars, an upwelling of near-religious intensity that drops into expectant silence as he takes his seat. He begins to blow. It’s a deep and resonant sound, a triumph of the breath, alternating passages of gorgeous lyricism with interludes of skronk and wail. Even those unschooled in jazz technique can feel the power.
At 77, Sanders is one of the last living giants of 1960s avant-garde jazz. He rose to prominence as a member of John Coltrane’s final, out-there bands, and after the master’s death struck out on his own, helping to create the “spiritual jazz” movement, which blended free jazz with Eastern scales, African rhythms, and a touch of R&B. “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” Sanders’ 19-minute epic, defined the genre with its driving bassline, mantra-like vocals, and swirling melody. The vibe lands somewhere between Zen, Haight Ashbury, and Black Power, but the force of the statement is anything but dated. “He’s always trying to reach out to truth,” his mentor Coltrane said in 1965. “He’s dealing among other things in energy, in integrity, in essences.”
Jazz soon lost the cultural spotlight, subsumed by funk, disco, and hip hop. But spiritual jazz is enjoying a resurgence—and so is Sanders’ reputation. Three of his classic late 1960s and early ‘70s albums have just been reissued, and many of his sonic descendants have gained their own acclaim. The saxophonist Kamasi Washington, for instance, a Kendrick Lamar collaborator, was the subject of a 2016 New York Times magazine profile.
Towards the end of the evening at SF Jazz, Sanders launches into a reprise of “Creator.” His movements are slow and precise. He looks fragile, a contrast with that rich, booming tone he pulls from his sax. As the pace quickens, he begins to sing a nearly-wordless melody--“Ah-ee-ah-oh-oh-yeah!”—and beckons the audience to mirror it back. Slowly, the music fades out, and it’s just Sanders and the crowd, in wordless communion. [END]