| Jewels of Thought | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | October 20, 1969 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 42:55 | |||
| Label | Impulse! | |||
| Producer | Ed Michel | |||
| Pharoah Sanders chronology | ||||
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Jewels of Thought is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded at Plaza Sound Studios in New York City on October 20, 1969, and was released on Impulse! Records in the same year. The 1998 reissue merged "Sun In Aquarius" into one 27-minute-long track.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10 [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide | [4] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "Jewels of Thought sees Sanders moving out from his signature tenor for the first time and delving deeply into reed flutes and bass clarinet. The plethora of percussion instruments utilized by everyone is, as expected, part of the mix..." Regarding "Sun in Aquarius", Jurek commented: "It's more like a finished exorcism... but it is one of the most astonishing pieces by Sanders ever." [1]
Regarding "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah", Daniel Martin-McCormick, in a review for Pitchfork, commented: "By allowing soulful prettiness alongside more vicious passages, Sanders opens the album up, connecting the dots between joyful communion and unflinching catharsis. A squalling solo toward the end of the side sounds like a cry from the deepest, most tortured part of his soul, but it's supported by an unerringly mellow piano accompaniment... It's a moment of deep vulnerability in a genre can often devolve into macho blowing contests." Martin-McCormick stated that "Sun in Aquarius" "yawns out like a terrifying chasm before letting Lonnie Liston Smith's piano boil over for the better part of five minutes. Sanders is in devastating form, screaming through his tenor. Even after a mid-side comedown and a breathtaking bass duet from Cecil McBee and Richard Davis, he leaps back in undeterred, firing out one of his heaviest solos like a machine gun." [2]
A review at Soundohm states: "The compositional minimalism of Jewels of Thought is a major thread through Sanders albums of this period, setting up a sparse canvas for colorful tenor saxophone meditations. In one instance Sanders' playing may be soft, beckoning and glad, while elsewhere his saxophone becomes a crazed, outraged beast unleashing its fury on the world. Regardless of which way these compositions lead, listeners are made to feel more like sonic travelers than mere consumers." [5]
Writing for Treblezine, Jeff Terich remarked: "Jewels of Thought... heightens the juxtaposition of Sanders' more mellifluous compositions against his most radical. Its first side, 'Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah,' begins with a plea for peace and a vocal delivery from Leon Thomas that's nearly as far-out as Sanders' saxophone is on its flipside. Yet ultimately this composition—a soulful call for understanding and love—is among Sanders' most hypnotic grooves, a breathtaking 15 minutes driven largely by Lonnie Liston Smith's stunning piano. The two-part 'Sun In Aquarius,' by comparison, is a furious exploration of dissonance and abrasion. Its first movement is darkly atmospheric, driven by Smith's menacing stabs of piano, a far cry from his glorious chords from 'Hum-Allah.' Yet the second half undergoes a thrilling transformation from free-jazz screech back to soul-jazz transcendence and eventually some strange hybrid of the two. It's not Sanders' most immediate composition, though as one of his most challenging it warrants revisiting and reexamining." [6]
In a review for Aquarium Drunkard, M. Garner wrote: "Smith's playing is bright, easy, lyrical, and, perhaps most importantly given the level of questing going on around it, familiar. On... 'Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah,' he gives Sanders a spruced-up base from which to launch, but Sanders seems just as happy to follow his pianist. The two play around one another cheerfully, each occasionally departing to take a solo trip through the sky before returning to the ground. Around them, the song develops with the same natural grace. Even as Sanders trills and Roy Haynes and Idris Muhammad count out counter-rhythms, a feeling of mutual wonder permeates the playing." [7]
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released over thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
Deaf Dumb Blind is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded at A & R Studios in New York City on July 1, 1970, and released on Impulse! Records in the same year. The album's title is bilingual: "Summun Bukmun Umyun" is Arabic for "Deaf Dumb Blind".
Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion, smooth jazz and acid jazz genres.
Black Unity is a composition and album by jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, recorded and released in late 1971. The whole album consists of a single thirty-seven-minute track, which was described by critic Joe S. Harrington as "an exercise in sustained harmonic groove that cannot be beaten" when he listed it at #38 on his Top 100 Albums. The compact disc reissue of 1997 unites the two parts as a single track, timed at 37:21.
Karma is a jazz recording by the American tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, released in May 1969 on the Impulse! label, with catalog number AS 9181. A pioneering work of the spiritual jazz style, it has become Sanders' most popular and critically acclaimed album.
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Cosmic Music is a jazz album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane released after John Coltrane's death. John Coltrane only plays on two tracks, "Manifestation" and "Reverend King".
Here Comes the Whistleman is a live album by jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk recorded in March 1965 at Atlantic Studios in New York, and released in 1967. It was his first release on the Atlantic label and features performances by Kirk with pianists Lonnie Liston Smith and Jaki Byard, bassist Major Holley and drummer Charles Crosby.
Sugar is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, his first recorded for the CTI Records label following his long association with Blue Note, featuring performances by Turrentine with Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Ron Carter, and Billy Kaye with Lonnie Liston Smith added on the title track and Butch Cornell and Richard "Pablo" Landrum on the other two tracks on the original release. The CD rerelease added a live version of the title track recorded at the Hollywood Palladium in 1971.
Tauhid is a jazz album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was the second album released under his name, and his first album on the Impulse! label. It was recorded on November 15, 1966 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, four days after the concert heard on the John Coltrane album Offering: Live at Temple University, and was released in 1967, after the death of Coltrane, with whom Sanders had played since 1965. Tauhid was reissued in 2017 on Anthology Recordings. The album marks guitarist Sonny Sharrock's first appearance on a record, as well as one of pianist Dave Burrell's earliest recordings.
Elevation is a live album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973 on the Impulse! label.
Love in Us All is an album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders released on the Impulse! label.
Izipho Zam is the third album led by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1969 but not released on the Strata-East label until 1973. It features Sanders with a large ensemble.
Live at the East is a live album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders released on the Impulse! label.
Bolivia is a live album by Argentinian jazz composer and saxophonist Gato Barbieri featuring performances recorded in New York in 1973 and first released on the Flying Dutchman label.
Mama Wailer is an album by American jazz organist Lonnie Smith recorded in 1971 and released on the Kudu label.
Spirits Known and Unknown, subtitled New Vocal Frontiers, is the debut album by American jazz vocalist and percussionist Leon Thomas recorded in 1969 and released by the Flying Dutchman label.
Expansions is an album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded in 1974 and released by the Flying Dutchman label the following year.
In the Beginning 1963–1964 is a 4-CD compilation album by American free jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1963-1964 and released in 2012 on the ESP-Disk label. It features previously-unreleased recordings of Sanders performing with groups led by Don Cherry and Paul Bley, complete concert recordings of Sanders' appearances with Sun Ra, a re-release of Sanders' first album, and various interviews.
Spiritual jazz is a sub-genre of jazz that originated in the United States during the 1960s. The genre is hard to characterize musically but draws from free, avant-garde and modal jazz and thematically focuses on transcendence and spirituality. John Coltrane's 1965 album A Love Supreme is considered landmark in the genre.
