Pharoah Sanders - Pharoah

Deluxe limited edition embossed 2LP boxset w/ 24-page booklet, rare photos and ephemera.

First official reissue of the Master Pharoah's YouTube algorithm sensation (and yes, that probably means if you already have a copy it is a bootleg - any port in a storm, i suppose). Thanks to YT's ever mysterious cueing system, Harvest Time, Pharoah's 20 minute long opener, has become as ubiquitous as Yoshimura's Green, Rupa's 'Aaj Shanibar' or Mariah's s/t, attaining the same strange kind of paradoxical status whereby it's instantly recognisable yet still unattainable. Its origins seem to be equally elusive and unlikely, made amidst a disagreement with India Navigation's Bob Cummins at a crossroads in Sanders career with a group of musicians who would never again perform in the same room, some of whom were playing instruments almost entirely new to them. How the record has since developed its own unpinnable mythology in the digital realm seems customary of its unconventional roots, and fitting of a record that slides loosely between stations, ambient, spiritual and modal yet none of those things exclusively. Opportunity is taken to add more meat is added to the bone with this official outing by including not only two previously unreleased live performances of Harvest Time, but also a 24 page booklet of photos and interviews, not least one with with Sanders himself. Whether any of that adds or explains away the inherent mystique of the original recordings you'll have to determine for yourself, but there's still no denying the timeless intrigue at the heart of this pan-generational music.