''Thembi'' is the seventh album by free jazz saxophonist

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) 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", San ...

, released in 1971.

Overview

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 The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

, and

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

balaphone The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Senufo people, Senoufo and Gur languages, Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch ...

, 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 Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) 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. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

, and percussionists

Chief Bey James Hawthorne Bey (April 17, 1913 – April 8, 2004)Associated Press"Chief Bey, 91 Jazz Drummer."''The New York Times'', April 13, 2004. Retrieved October 28, 2016.Jenkins, Todd S"Chief Bey: Master of African drums."''www.jazzhouse.org.'' Retr ...

, 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 An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

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.

Smith's 1973 debut album was titled ''

Astral Traveling ''Astral Traveling'' is the debut album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded in 1973 and released by the Flying Dutchman label.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." 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."

Track listing

#"Astral Travelling" (Lonnie Liston Smith) - 5:48 #"Red, Black & Green" (Sanders) - 8:56 #"Thembi" (Sanders) - 7:02 #"Love" (Cecil McBee) - 5:12 #"Morning Prayer" (Sanders, Liston Smith) - 9:11 #"Bailophone Dance" (Sanders) - 5:43

Personnel

– tenor and soprano saxophones, alto flute,

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * ...

, brass bells,

, maracas, cow horn, fifes * Lonnie Liston Smith – piano, electric piano, claves, percussion, ring cymbal, shouts,

* Michael White – violin, percussion *

– bass, finger cymbal, percussion * Roy Haynes – drums * Clifford Jarvis – drums, maracas, bells, percussion * Nat Bettis, Chief Bey, Majid Shabazz, Anthony Wiles – African percussion * James Jordan – ring cymbal

Recording details

Tracks 1–4 were recorded at the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

, Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 1970. Track 4 is an unaccompanied bass solo. Tracks 5–6 were recorded at the

, New York City, on January 12, 1971. The assistant engineer was Lillian Davis Douma.

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk Pharoah Sanders albums Impulse! Records albums