The Pharaohs, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

group, were formed in 1962 out of a student band, The Jazzmen, at

Crane Junior College Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a two-year college located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as Crane Junior College in 1911 and was the first of the City Colleges. Crane ceased operations at ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. This early incarnation comprised

Louis Satterfield Louis Edward Satterfield (April 3, 1937 – September 27, 2004) was an American bassist and trombonist. Satterfield was a member of both The Pharaohs and the Phenix Horns. He also collaborated with prominent artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, ...

on trombone, Charles Handy on trumpet, and

Don Myrick Donald Myrick (April 6, 1940 – July 30, 1993) was an American saxophonist. A member of The Phenix Horns, he is best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire and Phil Collins. He played alto, tenor, and soprano sax as a member of Earth, Wind ...

on alto saxophone. They were joined by Fred Humphrey on piano, Ernest McCarthy on bass guitar and

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

on drums. Satterfield, White, and Handy were studio musicians at

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in Chicago.

Affro Arts Theater

On the South Side of Chicago the Affro Arts Theater offered concerts, as well as classes in music and dance. As the name suggests the theater represented the strong African-American nature of the area and the times. It was here that the Jazzmen merged with the Artistic Heritage Ensemble to form The Pharaohs.

Albums

In 1971 the band recorded '' The Awakening'', and in 1972 ''

In the Basement ''In the Basement'' is a live album by The Pharaohs which was recorded in 1972 and released on the Luv N' Haight record label in 1996. Track listing #"In the Basement" ive (The Pharaohs, Don Whitehead) 10:50 ...

''. With cuts like "The Pharaohs Love Y'all" and "In the Basement", these albums established The Pharaohs as a force, if only on the cult level, for several years. Many of the Afro-Sheen commercials from this period featured music of the Pharaohs. By the early 1970s, Maurice White had had some success with the

Ramsey Lewis Trio Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five gold records and three Grammy Awards in his career. His album '' The ...

and recorded a demo with several Chicago musicians. After signing with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

he assembled the band which was to become

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

. In 1998 the Pharaohs marked their 30th anniversary by performing at the Kansas City Blues-Jazz festival, releasing the performance on CD the next year. For this recording, the band included Charles L. Handy (trumpet, percussion, vocals), Big Willie Woods (trombone, percussion, vocals), Black Herman Waterford (alto and tenor saxophones, percussion), Billy Brimfield (trumpet), Yehuda Ben Israel (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Satterfield (bass guitar, vocals), "Kewu" Goggins (percussion), Ron Dennis (percussion), Calvin Mayfield (drums), and Master Henry Gibson (percussion, vocals).The Pharaohs Orchestra, ''Sun Sketches'', Scarab Recordings.

References

External links

* The Pharaohs on allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pharaohs, The American funk musical groups American jazz ensembles from Illinois Musical groups established in 1962 Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups from Chicago American soul musical groups Jazz musicians from Illinois 1962 establishments in Illinois