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Pharoah Sanders: Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt

By Chris May
February 6, 2024
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This little beauty, all sixteen minutes of it, is the opening track of Pharoah Sanders' first own-name masterpiece, Tauhid (Impulse!), recorded in 1966, released in 1967, and the blueprint for Sanders' style of astral jazz. Remarkably, many jazz enthusiasts, including Sanders fans, seem not to have heard Tauhid—and one leading tenor saxophonist on London's alternative jazz scene had never even heard of the album until it was brought to their attention in an interview a couple of years ago. Sanders is joined by Sonny Sharrock (guitar), Dave Burrell (piano), Henry Grimes (bass), Roger Blank (drums) and Nat Betts (percussion).

Contact Chris May on All About Jazz.
Chris May is a senior editor of All About Jazz. He was previously the editor of the pioneering magazine Black Music & Jazz Review, and more recently editor of the style / culture / history magazine Jocks & Nerds.

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About Pharoah Sanders

Instrument: Saxophone, tenor

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