''Welcome to Love'' (subtitled ''Pharoah Sanders Plays Beautiful Ballads'') is an album led by 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 ...

recorded in 1990 and first released on the Dutch

Timeless Timeless (or atemporal) or timelessness (or atemporality) may refer to: * Agelessness, the condition of being unaffected by the passage of time * Akal (Sikh term), timelessness in Sikhism * Eternity, timeless existence or infinite duration * Immo ...

label. The album features jazz standards, many of which were also recorded by John Coltrane.

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Steve Loewy commented: "This performance has held up well through the years, and while the thin, reserved approach is reminiscent of Coltrane, it is still marked with Pharoah's print". The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' called the album "elaborate," and stated that "much of the credit has to go to... Wainwright, who... certainly can't be short of work playing as he does." Marc Myers of '' All About Jazz'' described the recording as "one of Sanders' finest albums from his re-thinking period," and wrote that it is "an ideal introduction to Sanders and a stepping-stone to the saxophonist's more inventive, spiritual pieces." Jazz Fuel's Matt Fripp included the album in his selection of "Ten Iconic Pharoah Sanders Albums," and commented: "The playing is supremely mature and shows a deep understanding and appreciation of the material. On the surface and in comparison to his earlier releases, Sanders might, on casual glance, appear to have become entrenched in a kind of conservative, nostalgic reverie to a by-gone age, but deeper listening reveals beautiful, melodic music making by all involved here."

Track listing

# " You Don't Know What Love Is" ( Gene DePaul,

Don Raye Don Raye (born Donald MacRae Wilhoite Jr., March 16, 1909 – January 29, 1985) was an American songwriter, best known for his songs for The Andrews Sisters such as "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", " The House of Blue Lights", "Just for a Thr ...

) - 4:55 # " The Nearness of You" ( Hoagy Carmichael,

Ned Washington Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Bes ...

) - 5:18 # " My One and Only Love" (

Robert Mellin Israel Melnikoff (September 22, 1902 – July 10, 1994), known professionally as Robert Mellin, was a Russian Empire-born American composer and lyricist and music publisher. Born in Kyiv and raised in Chicago, where his first job was music plugg ...

, Guy Wood) - 8:06 # "I Want to Talk About You" (

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

) - 8:14 # " Soul Eyes" (

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

) - 9:22 # "

Nancy (With the Laughing Face) "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)" is a song composed in 1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers, called, originally, "Bessie (With The Laughing Face)". It was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1944. Many, perhaps most, people— ...

" (

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

, Phil Silvers) - 6:54 # " Polka Dots and Moonbeams" ( Johnny Burke, Van Heusen) - 7:21 # "Say It (Over and Over Again)" ( Frank Loesser, Jimmy McHugh) - 6:57 # "Lament" (

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

) - 6:13 # "The Bird Song" (Pharoah Sanders) - 6:50 # " Moonlight in Vermont" ( John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf) - 6:14 Bonus track on Japanese CD

Personnel

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

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 ...

*William Henderson -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Stafford James Stafford James (born April 24, 1946) is an American double-bassist and composer.Allmusic/ref> Biography Stafford James was born in Evanston, Illinois. From ages 6 to 11 he was a left handed violinist in the school orchestra. He also possessed d ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Eccleston W. Wainwright Jr. -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

{{Authority control 1991 albums Pharoah Sanders albums Timeless Records albums