‘Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group play deeply felt, sometimes earthy, and sometimes cosmic music. A trio (sax, drums, and organ) are augmented by additional percussion, soaring vocals, and even a vocal appearance by a toddler. Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group will take you where you need to go. A spiritual classic for the ages, following the lineage of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders yet firmly rooted in the present.’

New-York drummer Ron Jefferson was a founding member of The Jazz Modes and the Les McCann Trio. After a first album under his name on Pacific Jazz in 1962, he legged it to Paris, where his creative focus was a trio with Roland Haynes (who would record for Black Jazz) and guitarist Buz Saviano. Just before this session for Polydor International in 1965, they played a series of concerts in Dakar, and the killer cut here Africa The Beautiful is dotted with mbalax drumming alongside Ron’s flautism, in the same vein as Yusef Lateef’s Afro-Eastern explorations.
Remastered by Sam Records from the original master tapes.

‘Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series.’

Two highlights of the vibraphonist’s 1966 LP for SABA, his first as leader, following up an early Blue Note 10”. Ensadinado is a Latin jazz number by Jimmy Woode, who plays bass. The hard-swinging Night Lady is written by Francy Boland, playing piano; jet-propelled by the drumming of Kenny Clarke.

‘Sublime. The romping High Life, which opens, establishes the album’s mood, which is upbeat and celebratory. Sanders’ vocalized saxophones are at their most vibrant (standouts are his tenor on High Life and soprano on Selflessness); in addition to Norman Connors on drums, there are three percussionists, including Mtume and Badal Roy; James Branch adds some pretty flute; and someone is playing, it sounds like, a sitar in tamboura-style (or a tamboura in sitar-style, it is hard to tell which) on the title track and The Golden Lamp’ (Chris May, AllAboutJazz).

His wonderful 1987 hommage to John Coltrane, leading John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, and Idris Muhammad. You’ve Got To Have Freedom is here, but Naima lands the knockout roundhouse. Warmly recommended.

Heavy, grooving, excursive, Afro-Latin jazz to usher in the seventies, with two bassists — Cecil McBee and Stanley Clarke — and three drummers, in Norman Connors, Billy Hart, and Lawrence Killian. Fronting alongside Hannibal Marvin Peterson and Carlos Garnett, Sanders solos magnificently.
‘Verve By Request.’ Crucial Pharoah.

The first release of this ORTF recording before an audience at studio 104, Maison de la Radio, Paris.
A crack quartet, with Danny Mixon on keys (who played in this period with Grant Green and Mingus), Greg Bandy on drums (Yusef Lateef, Joe Henderson) and bassist Calvin Hill (who features on McCoy Tyner’s Sahara). All three were graduates of Betty Carter’s notoriously well-picked, exacting set-up.
Wonderful, core Sanders repertoire, too: Love Is Here and The Creator Has A Masterplan… Trane’s I Want To Talk About You… and a firing version of Love Is Everywhere, which raises the roof.
Properly licensed; sleeved in a classic tip-on gatefold, with notes and pictures; mastered from the original master tapes.

‘Deluxe limited edition embossed 2LP boxset including a 24-page booklet containing interviews with many of the participants, including Pharoah himself, previously unpublished photos, and ephemera. Frequently bootlegged, this is the first official version since 1977 — remastered and definitive. Adds two previously unreleased live performances of the masterpiece Harvest Time, performed during a European tour in the summer of ’77.’

Over to our friends at Soundohm in Milan…

‘The album begins with the throbbing three parts of its title track, collectively clocking in at just under 17 minutes. Underpinned by a tambura drone, heavily rooted in the percussive and rhythmic drive of the ensemble, Sanders soars through modal lines on saxophone (and sometimes voice) in a dance with Sedatrius Brown’s largely wordless vocals… some of the most engrossing and boundary-pushing spiritual jazz ever recorded…. before rounding out the first side with the brilliant, drone-like Myth, which features the bulk of the ensemble in states of chant… The second side begins with the ethereal spiritual jazz piece Mansion Worlds, featuring the majority of the ensemble making up the rhythm section while Joe Bonner delivers shimmering lines on piano and Sanders threads himself through it all… before drifting into the balladic and dreamy Memories Of Lee Morgan. The finale Went Like It Came takes a brilliant and unexpected turn, nodding to Sanders’ roots with Sun Ra. Swinging and raucous — taking on elements from classic R&B — it’s one of the those rare pieces by the saxophonist that makes you want to tap your foot and dance, while still retaining the heat of free jazz fire.
‘Truly staggering on every count, Village of the Pharoahs is one hell of a journey. Unquestionably one of our favourite Pharoah Sanders records of all time.’

This is a blast. From 1996, but summoning the fervour of his early seventies classics, Pharaoh sparks off kora, and high-life, and various African rhythms. The dazzling lineup includes Foday Musa Suso, Michael White, keyboardist Bill Henderson, Bernie Worrell, Charnett Moffett, and Hamid Drake.