Customer Reviews

Crescent With Love

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This 2 CD set may be the greatest tribute to John Coltrane ever done. Pharoah Sanders,born in Little Rock,Arkansas,in 1940,had the opportunity to play and record with Trane ("Ascension","the Seattle concert").Almost thirty years later,he recorded this wonderful tribute to his master,which includes many tunes associated to Coltrane : the haunting "Lonnie's lament","Naima","crescent","after the rain","wise one",and "in a sentimental mood"(written by Ellington,who performed it with Trane) or "too young to go steady"(a tune recorded by Trane in his "ballad" album for Impulse).You think that Sanders only plays free jazz,and unbearable music ? Listen to this set,and you'll discover a great tenor player,so close to his ancesters,Hawkins and Webster.I wish Albert Ayler was still alive,because I think he would have given us such great records,combining the respect and love for older masters and shades of the free years.Albert's voice can still be heard in David Murray's playing, thanks God.Here is the voice of a master of tenor saxophone,and this one can be heard and loved by all jazz lovers, even those who can't endure free jazz.Don't be afraid by the image you can have of Pharoah Sanders; if your saxophone references are Bean or Ben,or Don Byas,or even Lester, you'll like this record.

First off, we are very lucky to have Pharoah Sanders, late in his career, in such a setting--the classic sax-piano-bass-drums format. Lately, he seems to prefer a more world-jazz approach, often amid the--uneven, it must be admitted--soundscapes of Bill Laswell. Don't get me wrong. I have no complaints about his late career choices. I find his gravitation toward world-jazz perfectly appropriate and often spectacular in its results.

Personally, I don't think the right approach to the music contained on Crescent with Love is to consider it a Coltrane tribute. Rather, it represents for me some kind of ur-Sanders presentation of the glories of the tenor sax. I admit that for a long time I thought of it in terms of a Coltrane tribute. And it didn't work for me. I really couldn't listen to it. I had expectations for the music that just weren't there. It was only when I begin to see it as a kind of ultimate exercise by Sanders into the fabulous capability of the tenor sax to produce simply ravishing sounds that I began to see its genius.

Make no mistake. Pharoah Sanders is the greatest player of the tenor sax ever. No one will ever surpass his ability to get the most out of his instrument from a shear brilliance of tone perspective. He is the absolute master. So in a sense, his career has always been about finding the right context to properly expose his tonal mastery. But isn't this a somewhat shallow and reductionistic way to consider this man's music? No, I don't think so.

Because Sanders is all about allowing emotional depth to be a natural result of his technical mastery, not about conjuring up feeling for its own sake. Thus, when I listen to his absolutely absorbing rendering of that incredibly overrecorded standard, Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood," I find myself first drawn in by his ravishing tone, then enfolded in the tune's inherent poignancy, in a way that I've never been with another player. In other words, feeling becomes an outworking of a technique so profound, so overwhelming, that one's only response is yield to the inherent emotional depth of the tune.

The genius of this approach is perhaps most on display on Coltrane's "Wise One." Taken at a leisurely pace, sans pyrotechnics, Sanders (and the quartet) allows the inherent beauty of the tune to naturally unfold, as it were. This is so far removed from the deconstructionist tendencies (of which I, generally, am a fan) that rule modern jazz as to render Sanders almost an archaic figure. And that's how he comes across, if we simply regard this disc as a "tribute." It's only when we take him on his own terms that his genius come fully to the fore.

A note about his bandmates. These players, long time Sanders associates--William Henderson on piano, Charles Fambrough on bass, and Sherman Fergson on drums--are by no means considered to be absolutely top-shelf players (save perhaps Fambrough, and he has struggled to find fulfilling contexts for his monster chops). Yet they consistently provide the ideal playing enviornment for Sanders--and not in the mail-in-your-chops way that Sonny Rollins' bandmates for the last ten years seem to have done. Henderson, especially, seems perfectly attuned to the Sanders esthetic. He's always spot on with his glorious singing tone, understated yet provocative solos, and expansive comping.

I have to admit I've neglected this disc somewhat, but it's because I couldn't get proper access to it. Like me, if you jettison the Coltrane tribute approach, I think you'll find it much more naturally reveals its inherent genius.

Ever wander how Trane would have sounded had he not died so young? This album may hold the answer. Pharoah Sanders may be the most spiritually deep saxophonist alive today. Throughout most of the 90's Sanders has been delving more deeply into the sound world of his mentor Coltrane. Unlike younger musicians, Trane's influence has deepened Sanders creativity, not frozen it. Close your eyes and you'd think Trane was in the room, but a Trane deepened by the passage of time.

Not that Pharoah is a mere imitator. This is deeply personal music, played with deep love. But the Sanders trademark multiphonics are still present, controlled yet still with a rough edge. There are moments on this CD that can make you weep. Sander's playing on The Light at the Edge of the World is breathtaking. And Too Young to Go Steady is heartbreakingly nostalgic. This is great rainy Sunday afternoon music. It is beautiful and moody and the best tribute album I've ever heard.

Buy it now if you are a fan of great tenor playing...even if you are afraid of Pharoah from the 60's albums. Any jazz fan would love this recording!

Please don't consider this a "tribute" CD to Trane. Pharoah Sanders is an absolute master of the tenor sax in his own right. He's earned it. Lonnie's lament makes me cry when I hear it...this man is deep. Great tone and phrasing. Please give him and his wonderful band the respect and admiration they all deserve. Amazing music, amazing talent.

Pharoah Sanders has released a fair few albums in his time, and for those that are only recently starting to get into his work, it can be a little daunting knowing where to start. Most people will steer you towards albums such as: "Karma" / "Rejoice" / "Africa" / "Welcome to Love" / "Thembi", etc.....fantastic choices all of them, but his 1992 "Crescent with Love" album, is sometimes criminally overlooked. Maybe because it's generally, a far more contemplative and subdued album than he is normally associated with. The mood here, is less of the Coltrane-esque, Saxophone wailing and screeches , and in comes a set that is by turns, organic, intimate, elegant and soothing. With Pharoah proving himself to be a master of mood and atmosphere, intertwined with a caressing tenor sound, that is given towards a sparer and looser sound than usual. There is a tangible melancholic mood to this sublime 2 disk album, with Pharoah displaying a restrained confidence and warmth, that for those listeners that are only familiar with Pharoah's work, via albums like "Karma" & "Africa" with be pleasantly surprised with this sorely underrated masterpiece.

Tracks such as "Lonnies Lament", "Softly for Shyla" & "After the Rain" emphasise this mood, with strong piano accompaniments, sitting comfortably Pharoahs muted Sax performance. It's all such a beautifully rendered set, that unless you see the cd case with your own eyes, you'd be doubtful as to whether this is actually the work of Coltrane's student. It's an album that is unhurried and tempo, and reflective in mood, and considering the majority of Pharoahs work, ultimately a more introspective and insular album. Pharoah beautifully textures alongside the gentle piano compositions, and nocturnal bass and drums with his staggeringly expressive Saxaphone. It actually has far more in common with Ike Quebec's astonishing "Blue and Sentimental" album, in that it swaps exuberance for something altogether more inward looking. There are a couple of tracks that do break out of the laid-back mood, with both "Wise one" and "Crescent" both being slightly more energised, and this will please those that love his earlier work. But for the rest of us, this is a understated album, that needs to be listed amongst Pharoah finest albums, and one of his most remarkable directions in performance.

Okay, so he's not the firebreather he was during the 60's, but certainly no one can bring more to the table than Pharoah Sanders when it comes to doing a Coltrane tribute album. Even if the album contains chestnuts like "Misty", the ripeness and authority of Sanders' playing transcends criticism, and with the three other players succesfully invokes the sound of the (Garrison,Tyner, Jones) classic quartet without being imitative. Much recommended, a tender and respectful tribute to a man and an era.

I heard that this was a classic, and then I listened to it and I was on board. The only problem is that the copy that I purchased was damaged so I am still in the market for this one. I'm sure it will be mine soon, oh yes, it will be mine, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...