Customer Reviews

Elevation

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recorded in performance at the legendary Ash Grove in Los Angeles over several different September nights in 1973 this Lp captures Pharoah Sanders at the height of his musical powers. Sanders, who played with John Coltrane quite often on this recording sounds like Trane himself. The sax work ranges from meditative and reflective to disturbingly out there on a different plane. As a reflection of life itself which can go from peaceful and beautiful to chaotic and violent in a moments notice the msuic touches all bases. The vast majority is on the peaceful side but I guess Pharoah Sanders has to exorcise his demons or at least demonstrate mankinds ills on occasion. His music can be as tranquill has a sunset over a calm ocean that suddenly becomes stormy, unleashing thunder and lightning and pelting you with torrents of rain; it is still a beautiful sight to behold or in this case to listen to. Although recorded live there is not much audible reaction from the crowd, although on a couple of tracks you can hear the audience, but the band members definitely have hot mics as you can hear them interacting throughout the recording. On "Ore-Se-Rere" Sanders delivers some vocal harmony with the other band members in an African-chant-like fashion underneath some heavy percussion work without one single note on the saxophone! The result is evidence that a good time was had by all. Three of the five songs are Sanders original compostions that have plenty of room for free form improvisation. "The Gathering " is one such jam that begins with some vocal chants and some wild, blitzkrieg tenor work by Sanders that some people would dismiss as screeching and honking on all registers of the instrument but their is a method to Pharoah Sanders's musical madness. As the title implies it is "Elevation" as the music takes you up, up and away, away from the crazy world to eventually reflect in a peaceful state. His sax work has all the markings of his tutelege with John Coltrane. Sanders experiments with diffferent sounds, much like Trane who also incorporated Eastern and African melodies and instruments into the music for a striking effect that is a precursor to the blending of cultures in music in some of todays world music. Sanders is featured on soprano and tenor saxophone for a multilayered sonic sax blast. "Spiritual Blessing" has a calming effect, like a call to prayer Sanders blows through his soprano in a Middle Eastern meditative slow way that allows you to transcend and experience his harmonic bliss. This is a good Sanders recording but if you are new to Pharoah Sanders this might not be the palce to begin your exploration of his music. Since he was well versed and had finished his Trane apprenticeship his own ship was beginning to sail on the sails of Trane. In other words the influence is quite strong and similar to Coltrane's late period. If you are new I recommend listening to a greatest hits package first to see if you like this form of jazz. Although not for everyone it is free form meditative Tranesque music at it's best. Sadly the Ash Grove became ashes. Originally a folk club in the fifties and a place where International music found it 's way into Los Angeles it burned to the ground for a third and final time shortly after this recording was made. All that is left are the memories from those lucky enough to have been there on occasion and a few wonderful recordings reflecting the time period. Recommended for jazz collectors.

A gem because it is mostly live, recorded at a defunct club in L.A. for unconventional styles. You must accept that at any moment P. Sanders can go from serene to surreal. If you can hold on, he'll bring it full circle. A good introduction or addition to a fan.

The 5 stars is for the music - recorded live in 1973.
Elevation is one of Pharoas finest recordings containing some
of the best music from the period. With influences from Africa,
India and - something that is always at the heart of Sanders`
music -the blues. And not to forget - there is a lot of joy
and happiness here.
Unfortunately -what we get is not the complete picture. It is
understandable that the original lp only contained parts of the
performances. But a cd can contain close to 90 minutes of music
so it would have been possible for Impulse to put out a cd with
the complete tracks.But then of course - it is cheaper to put out
replicas.
Mosaic would do a better job with this great music.

"Elevation" is an album that fits nicely with much of the rest of Pharoah's Impulse! catalogue. Most of the elements one would expect to find in a Pharoah Sanders album from this period (early 1970s) are here: music that is alternately meditative and furious (some of the best free improv of the period can be found in those loud furious orgiastic moments); chants; tunes that place emphasis on percussion; at least one tune featuring sitar. Add to the mix elements of Nigerian Highlife. He's at the top of his game, and the band plays with that sense of looseness and familiarity that comes with years of working together. Mostly it sounds like a bunch of good friends having a deep, spirited conversation. Well worth picking up. Hopefully "Elevation" will be reissued here in the States.

If you're looking you know this cd is a must-have!Sure Impulse could've totally done a better job of packaging these re-issues BUT,and at least to me,it's a big but.They left the original QS encoded quad mixes intact!!!
Which means to enjoy an awesome quad(surround sound for you newbs!) experience all you have to do is play this cd and activate the Dolby Prologic II Music(NOT Cinema!!!) function on your A/V receiver(Dolby PL II just happens to be a dead on QS surround decoder)
Here's the settings you'll want to apply to your DPL II Music options

Panorama-ON
Dimension-4
Center Width-7 or highest maximum(this effectively shuts off the Center channel for a true QUAD experience!

ALL of the Impulse cd re-issues that were originally quad lp's have the QS encoding intact so have a ball w/ 'em!

A decent record marred by bizarre production choices, "Elevation" is primarily a live album, recorded in September of 1973, with one brief piece from a studio date shortly thereafter. Pharoah Sanders, heard here on tenor and soprano saxes as well as an array of percussion and vocal is joined on the live tracks by pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Calvin Hill (who doubles on tamboura on a few tracks), percussionists Lawrence Killian, John Blue, Jimmy Hopps and drummer Michael Carvin. The studio piece ("Greeting to Saud") adds violinist Michael White, inaudible vocalist Sedatrius Brown and percussionist Kenneth Nash with Carvin sitting out.

The four live tracks show remarkable diversity-- opener "Elevation" feels closely related to "A Love Supreme" and "The Creator Has a Masterplan" with Sanders stating a four note theme and providing lovely solos before catching fire and exploding. The piece begins to cool off a bit when Hill takes a stunning bass solo leading into a staggered theme statement. But just as the piece starts to cook again, it fades out! This is a theme that repeats throughout the remainder of the tracks, be it the West-Indian tinged "Ore-Se-Rere" (which truthfully doesn't sit well with me at all-- I find it to a be quite frankly a bit irritating) and lovely soprano-over-drone piece "Spiritual Blessing" (one of the real highlights of the record). Thankfully spared this editing is the South African-influenced Sander screech-fest "The Gathering" (where again after Sanders brings the piece to a boil simmers with a superb solo from Hill), but the damage is pretty much done-- the editing really ruined the experience for me.

The studio track is interesting enough-- with lovely piano statements over a tamboura drone and a literal wall of percussion before a moody violin enters. But as one would expect, just as the piece starts to develop, it fades out.

One piece of good news-- sonically it lives up to the usual Impulse! reissues, but I miss the days before GRP/Impulse! was bought by Verve and they used to actually put some effort into reissues-- this is the sort of piece that could have really benefitted from having tracks restored. Newcomers to Sanders should start with "Karma", it's his best known for a reason, this one is probably for fans only.