Save Our Children
Reading John Szwed's fascinatingSpace is the Place: The Life and Times of Sun Ra, you meet "Farrell" Sanders, whom the bandleader ardently convinced to pronounce and spell his name "Pharoah" and extend his already woolly tenor saxophone style even further. So developed some of the 1960s' most unbridled free-jazz wails, especially where Sanders andColtraneteamed up in the latter's late-period band (as onLive in Japan). But Sanders eventually moved into the realms of sultry balladry, especially that caught onCrescent with Love, and then his late-1990s period, where he's squared up with producer Bill Laswell. Here Sanders leads his second Verve-Laswell session, with numerous collaborators (East Indian percussionistsZakir HussainandTrilok Gurtu; keyboardists Bernie Worrell, William Henderson, and Jeff Bova; and even Tony Cedras on harmonium). All the edges are rounded and unfierce, with Sanders's tone mostly sweet and lilting, and the dub-tinged tunes draw comparisons well beyond ballads and postbop, reaching toward a geographically unspecific Middle Eastern mix. The vibes are cool. But the music seems a bit less than it could be at most points, except during the eerie "Ancient Song" with its mournful double-reed melody and the mbira-backed "Far-Off Sand."--Andrew Bartlett