Pharoah Sanders' third album as a leader is the one that defines him as a
musician to the present day. After the death of Coltrane, while there
were many seeking to make a spiritual music that encompassed his ideas
and yearnings while moving forward, no one came up with the goods until
Sanders on this 1969 date. There are only two tracks on Karma, the
32-plus minute "The Creator Has a Master Plan" and the
five-and-a-half-minute "Colours." The band is one of Sanders' finest,
and features vocalist Leon Thomas, drummer Billy Hart, Julius Watkins,
James Spaulding, a pre-funk Lonnie Liston Smith, Richard Davis, Reggie
Workman on bass, and Nathaniel Bettis on percussion. "Creator" begins
with a quote from "A Love Supreme," with a nod to Coltrane's continuing
influence on Sanders. But something else emerges here as well: Sanders'
own deep commitment to lyricism and his now inherent knowledge of
Eastern breathing and modal techniques. His ability to use the ostinato
became not a way of holding a tune in place while people soloed, but a
manner of pushing it irrepressibly forward. Keeping his range limited
(for the first eight minutes anyway), Sanders explores all the colors
around the key figures, gradually building the dynamics as the band
comps the two-chord theme behind with varying degrees of timbral
invention. When Thomas enters at nine minutes, the track begins to open.
His yodel frees up the theme and the rhythm section to invent around
him. At 18 minutes it explodes, rushing into a silence that is profound
as it is noisy in its approach. Sanders is playing microphonics and
blowing to the heavens and Thomas is screaming. They are leaving the
material world entirely. When they arrive at the next plane, free of
modal and interval constraints, a new kind of lyricism emerges, one not
dependent on time but rhythm, and Thomas and Sanders are but two
improvisers in a sound universe of world rhythm and dimension. There is
nothing to describe the exhilaration that is felt when this tune ends,
except that "Colours," with Ron Carter joining Workman on the bass, was
the only track that could follow it. You cannot believe it until you
hear it.
1 Creator Has a Master Plan 32:47
(Pharoah Sanders / Leon Thomas)
Bass – Richard Davis
Drums – William Hart
Flute – James Spaulding
Percussion – Nathaniel Bettis
2 Colors 5:36
(Pharoah Sanders / Leon Thomas)
Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Frederick Waits
Credits :
Bass – Reggie Workman
French Horn – Julius Watkins
Piano – Lonnie L. Smith Jr.
Tenor Saxophone, Music By – Pharoah Sanders
Vocals, Percussion, Lyrics By – Leon Thomas
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