About

Tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was among the most important contributors to the evolution of spiritual jazz, creating emotionally complex and uncompromisingly passionate music for over 60 years. Sanders got his start playing alongside John Coltrane in the mid-'60s, just as Coltrane's playing was turning to more chaotic free jazz expressions, and Sanders carried over some of that same euphoric upheaval into his own albums. Across multiple classics he recorded for the Impulse label in the late '60s and early '70s, however, Sanders incorporated elements of world music and even more pop-adjacent vocalizations into his sometimes chaotic style, crossing over to audiences who weren't primarily jazz listeners with the poetic mysticism of 1969's Karma or the sociopolitical sentiments of 1971's Black Unity.

Comprising of two extended length compositions - “Love Is Everywhere” and “To John”, this 1974 release through Impulse is evidence of Pharaoh Sanders’ ability during this time to force listeners to take a stand on what they were listening to. With a cast including Cecil McBee (Bass), Joe Bonner (Flute), Norman Connors (Drums) among others, they take on the two works resulting what ends up becoming some of Pharaoh Sanders’ most respected work. Verve By Request Series features 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in Detroit. — (via Label)

Recorded near the end of Pharoah Sanders' tenure at Impulse, Love in Us All consists of two extended compositions. Together, they serve as an aural representation of the way Sanders' music polarized the jazz world at the time. Like many of his "New Thing" peers, the saxophonist sought the sound world beyond the constraints of conventional harmony. This often translated into music played at the grating, far reaches of his instrument. 

"To John" finds Sanders in this territory. His solo begins with Coltrane-isms of short motive development before stretching out into a more personal sound. Finding himself engulfed by a rising musical tide, he plays like he's fighting desperately to stay above it. Soon his saxophone takes on a sorrowful tone as if admitting inevitable defeat. With little optimism apparent, it ultimately communicates a sense of emptiness. However, the often one-dimensional criticism of Sanders as an angry, confrontational musician fails to take in the ragged beauty of a work like "Love Is Everywhere." The song offers little explanation as to what the furor was all about. It begins with an exquisite bass vamp that the song builds from. "Love is everywhere" is repeatedly and passionately shouted as the music escalates into a disorienting swirl of sound. Sanders enters midway through with a surprisingly restrained and lyrical solo on soprano. These two songs hardly seem to belong on the same album and are best approached separately. Many of the players who took musical and philosophical inspiration from John Coltrane failed to translate it into resonant works of their own. Sanders' unsuccessful attempt on "To John" falls in this category. Yet, in a way, Coltrane himself never created a work as emotionally direct as "Love Is Everywhere." — (via Nathan Bush // AllMusic)

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Label: Verve Records, ABC Impulse!
Series: Verve By Request
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo
Reissued: 2025 / Original Release: 1974
Genre: Jazz
Style: Avant-garde Jazz, Free Jazz

File under: Avant Garde / Free Jazz
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