ID Music 20220930 - Pharoah Sanders RIP

North America's Gnarliest Mix for considering imposter syndrome in the context of Pharoah Sanders' passing

start listening here, or scroll down for download links, mixcloud streams, and setlists

For this week's practice, some thoughts on imposter syndrome, finding satisfaction in things that we make, and the passing of visionary artist Pharoah Sanders.

Sanders was one of the founding figures of the transcendent music that would become known as spiritual jazz. His work from 1965 to 1977 comprises a legendary run of near-perfect albums, such a highly regarded body of work that someone printed "you can only trust yourself and the first fourteen Pharoah Sanders albums" on a T-shirt¹, images of which were circulating in the flood of eulogies online. 

And yet Sanders himself may have remained unsatisfied with his near universally-revered works. An interviewer asked him in a 2020 conversation in the New Yorker, "Is there any recording where you're happy with your sound?" to which he replied "I haven't made it yet. Sometimes on my horn, a couple of notes, I'm feeling satisfied with it, but the rest of the notes just is not sounding right. So I'm still working on that…

"I know when I listen to other musicians, they sound beautiful to me. When I hear myself playing, I sound like … They sound beautiful. I just wonder, what are they all using?"

We all suffer, and it's good to keep making things rather than waiting on perfection. Even a luminary elder such as Pharoah Sanders was still working on it. His words are another welcome reminder that we can experience equanimity in discomfort. And also, “the fact that we all suffer means we are all in the same boat, and that’s what allows us to feel compassion².”

Over the next hour we'll hear several lesser-known unreleased live recordings of Pharoah Sanders & Friends, including a set opening for the Grateful Dead³ in 1992. There are many selectors out there with a way deeper understanding of his work, so these selections are only significant insofar as they caught my ear for one reason or another.

Also listen for Bardo Pond and Kahil El' Zabar's Ritual trio paying tribute. 

blessing up and blessing down,
DC

P.S. Source material for this week’s video flyer:

If you know anyone who might find value or otherwise enjoy some aspect of Void Contemplation Tactics, please pass it along. Thank you for lurking, sharing, subscribing for free, and/or subscribing for money. It means a lot to me!

My reach is limited on social media, which I’m increasingly convinced is a good thing. As Dōgen's teacher told him, “You don't have to collect many people like clouds. Having many fake practitioners is inferior to having a few genuine practitioners. Choose a small number of true persons of the way and become friends with them.” Or as we used to say at Arthur, “smiles and whispers between those who know.”

---

ID Music 20220930 – Pharoah Sanders RIP

stream | download

artist - work
Pharoah Sanders / Foday Musao / Eberhard Weber - Spring Waterfall (Part I) (edit)
Bardo Pond - The Creator Has A Master Plan
Pharoah Sanders – (unknown) Cal Expo Amphitheater Sacramento CA (19920521)
Kahil El' Zabar's Ritual Trio with Pharoah Sanders – Pharoah's Song
Pharoah Sanders / Foday Musa Suso / Eberhard Weber - Spring Waterfall (Part II) (edit)

video flyer credits:
📹 Pharoah Sanders
"Kazuko"
Live In an Abandoned Tunnel in San Francisco (Cosmic Chambo Inverted Saturation Edit)

🔊 Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, and Eberhard Weber
"spring waterfall"
Live in Frankfurt, Germany 19970806

You can help make Void Contemplation Tactics an emotionally rewarding and/or slightly less unprofitable project by sharing this post, subscribing for free, subscribing for money, and/or purchasing music from the artists we play on the Inter-Dimensional Music airwaves. Breathe deep in the Bandcamp library. And thank you.

1. Via Detroit’s UFO FACTORY:

2. We are once again pointing to Lewis Richmond in Tricycle: tricycle.org/magazine/authentic-life/

3. Seems like a good run of shows:

You can find the Dead’s pre-FM SBD on archive.org. The Pharoah Sanders takes a little more digging!