Pharoah Sanders - Africa (1987)

Pharoah Sanders, originally Farrell Sanders from Little Rock, Arkansas, became well-known in the local jazz scene in Oakland, California, in the early 1960s. In the middle of the decade he moved to New York, where he worked with Sun Ra and other luminaries of the new jazz avant garde. He was asked by John Coltrane to join his group in 1965, and so became a part of Coltrane's most experimental unit. After Coltrane's death in 1967 he continued in musical collaboration with Coltrane's second wife, Alice.
Sanders is known for a distinctive sound, including a split reed technique. While primarily playing the tenor sax, he has also recorded playing the soprano sax, flutes, and percussion. He can coax unearthly sounds from the tenor saxophone, and, according to jazz legend, can cause a saxophone to continue to shriek for minutes after removing it from his mouth.
Through the 1970s he explored the melding of West and South African rhythms into free jazz, experimenting with layers of percussion and voices. By the late-'70s he began, like many jazz musicians, to coat his spiritually-tinged jazz with a glossy pop-funk sheen; in his case produced by drummer Norman Connors. In the 1980s he changed course to play the standards. In 1996 he returned to his "Nubian space jazz" sound with A Message from Home. He has also recently recorded albums in collaboration with African Gnawa musicians and in tribute to his mentor John Coltrane.

01. You've Got To Have Freedom
02. Naima
03. Origin
04. Speak Low
05. After The Morning
06. Africa
07. Heart To Heart
08. Duo

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Sun Ra Arkestra - Friendly Galaxy (2000)

Recorded live at Banlieus Blues Festival, April 1991. Duration 76'43.

A very "jazzy" performance of uninterrupted Sun Ra's standards diluted with "Prelude to a kiss" by Duke Ellington and "Blue Lou". An excursion into the history of jazz encouraged by an ecstatic crowd.

1. Intro Percussion
2. Prelude To A Kiss
3. Blue Lou
4. Lights On A Satellite
5. Alabama
6. Fate In A Pleasant Mood
7. We Travel The Spaceways
8. Space Is The Place
9. Saturn Rings/Friendly Galaxy
10. Melody/They Will Come Back

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Abd Al-Hayy Hilmi 1908-1910 (1993)

Abd-al Hayy Hilmî was born circa 1857 in Bani Suwayf, Middle Egypt. He was able to meet the greatest voices of the late 19th century during the private concerts organized by his employer, a wealthy Alexandrian merchant. Through constant contact with the millieu, he eventually mastered a large repertoire, ranging from adwâr composed by court-patronized musicians to qâsida - classical poems, which were introduced into secular music by former sûfî cantors... Not quite as aristocratically oriented as Hamûlî or Manyalâwî, Hilmî was among the first major singers to perform for paying audiences in outdoor public concerts or in the prestigious café-chantants of Azbakiyya Square in Cairo. He was nevertheless a dazzling attraction for upper-class salons, and sung for Ottoman princes in 1910.A seductive coqquettish man, whose stylish Parisian tastes ruined his protectors, Abd al-Havy was to become the spoilt child of Egyptian high society at the turn of the century... An inveterate drinker, he would use various drugs to reach the state of saltana, necessary to unleash his extemporizing creativity. He died in Alexandria in 1912, after heavily overindulging in turtle and liquor during a feast.

Abd al-Hayy exposes the compositions to his own mania, summing up the introduction, livening up the composed thread of the melody, neglecting entire sections of the canvas so as to privilege one verse, one standstill in a particular modal color, to which he adds a tragic and hallucinated touch, displaying a wide range of virtuosistic effects shifting from long melodic phrases to a jerky staccato, interrupting the instruments with another dramatic piece of embroidery over the heady main theme... His lack of respect for rhythm and composition is well-known, and laid him open to harsh criticism from Rigorists... His ardor naturally finds its best expression in mawwâls, where the non-metrical improvisation in the framework of a maqâm is the only rule. In this field he remains unmatchable. This CD includes a selection of early tracks, dating 1908-1910.
Frédéric Lagrange, liner notes

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