| Thembi | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1971 [1] | |||
| Recorded | November 15, 1970 & January 12, 1971 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 41:12 | |||
| Label | Impulse! | |||
| Producer | Ed Michel, Bill Szymczyk | |||
| Pharoah Sanders chronology | ||||
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Thembi is the seventh album by free jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, released in 1971. Dedicated to his South-African wife Nomathemba "Thembi" ("love, faith and hope" in the Xhosa language), as noted on the backsleeve of the original album.
Sanders moved away from the long, intense compositions of his earlier albums and produced an album of shorter tracks. He and other musicians played a large variety of instruments. Sanders played tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, balaphone, small percussion instruments, and a cow horn.
Sanders's other major collaborator, pianist and composer Lonnie Liston Smith, performs on Thembi (though this would be the last time they recorded together). Also featured are violinist Michael White, bassist Cecil McBee, and percussionists Chief Bey, Majid Shabbaz, and Nat Bettis. "Thembi", "Astral Travelling" and "Morning Prayer" were included on the two-disc anthology, You've Got to Have Freedom, on Soul Brother Records.
Lonnie Liston Smith began experimenting with electric keyboards while recording this album:
On Thembi, that was the first time that I ever touched a Fender Rhodes electric piano. We got to the studio in California — Cecil McBee had to unpack his bass, the drummer had to set up his drums, Pharoah had to unpack all of his horns. Everybody had something to do, but the piano was just sitting there waiting. I saw this instrument sitting in the corner and I asked the engineer, 'What is that?' He said, 'That's a Fender Rhodes electric piano.' I didn't have anything to do, so I started messing with it, checking some of the buttons to see what I could do with different sounds. All of a sudden I started writing a song and everybody ran over and said, 'What is that?' And I said, 'I don't know, I'm just messing around.' Pharoah said, 'Man, we gotta record that. Whatcha gonna call it?' I'd been studying astral projections and it sounded like we were floating through space so I said let's call it 'Astral Traveling.' That's how I got introduced to the electric piano. [2]
Smith's 1973 debut album was titled Astral Traveling , and opens with the tune of the same name.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide |  [5] |
AllMusic gave the album a four-star rating (of a possible five), and reviewer Steve Huey described the album as offering "an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas, making it something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period.… Some fans may gripe that Thembi isn't conceptually unified or intense enough, but it's rare to have this many different sides of Sanders coexisting in one place, and that's what makes the album such an interesting listen." [3]
In a review for All About Jazz, Chris May called Astral Travelling "a lush, sweeping group workout foursquare in the astral paradigm" and stated that it is "given an exquisite performance" on the album. Regarding "Red, Black & Green", May wrote, "Sanders' overdubbed saxophones are foregrounded practically throughout, played in a style closer to the tumultuous one adopted by Sanders when he was a member of saxophonist John Coltrane's groups... Here, Sanders' sole concession is to play within a marginally more lyrical harmonic framework." May also praised McBee's bass solo "Love", calling it "the sort of track that gives bass solos a good name" and commenting, "McBee turns in a corker, starting conventionally enough, albeit with frequent use of percussive, 'Africanized' string-on-wood effects, before focusing on cleanly articulated high-harmonics." [6]
Tracks 1–4 were recorded at the Record Plant, Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 1970. Track 4 is an unaccompanied bass solo. Tracks 5–6 were recorded at the Record Plant, New York City, on January 12, 1971. The assistant engineer was Lillian Davis Douma.
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".
Cecil McBee is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums.
Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun) 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.
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.
Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane is a 1987 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Impulse! label. It features performances by Tyner, tenor saxophonists David Murray and Pharoah Sanders, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Haynes. The album received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance in 1988.
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.
Romantic Journey is an album released in 1977 by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania jazz drummer Norman Connors. The album charted at number ten on the jazz albums chart.
Elevation is a live album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973 on the Impulse! label.
Village of the Pharoahs is the eighth album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973 on the Impulse! label.
Mutima is the debut album led by bassist Cecil McBee recorded in 1974 and first released on the Strata-East label.
Izipho Zam (My Gifts) 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.
Astral Traveling is the debut album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded in 1973 and released by the Flying Dutchman 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.
Rejuvenation is an album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded and released by the Flying Dutchman label in 1985.
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.
Love Will Find a Way is an album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded in Burbank, California, in 1977, and was released in 1978 by Arista Records. On the album, which was produced by Norman Connors, Sanders is joined by a large ensemble of musicians.
Wisdom Through Music is an album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded in New York City and Los Angeles, California, and was released in 1973 by Impulse! Records. On the album, Sanders is joined by flutist James Branch, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and percussionists Badal Roy, James Mtume, and Lawrence Killian. The recording was produced by Lee Young, the younger brother of saxophonist Lester Young.
Carnegie Hall '71 is a live album by Alice Coltrane. It was recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City on February 21, 1971, and was released in 2018 by the Hi Hat label. On the album, Coltrane appears on piano and harp, and is joined by saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, bassists Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee, and drummers Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis.
