Pharaoh Sanders
 Izipho Zam (My Gifts)

★★★½

Pharaoh Sanders has always been a great tenor saxophonist, but also an incredible leader in my opinion. Here he does just both of those, very well. The line up is quite good too, the classic Lonnie and Leon that are on other records of his but also includes musicians such as the untouchable Sonny Sharrock. 

The first track, "Prince of Peace", is just a song off of Jewels of Thought but stripped to its bare bones. I can take most of Leon's yodeling and singing, but it gets a bit repetitive and corny if you think about it too much. Which I tend to do. Thankfully it's over with and you have the rest of the album to focus on.

The next piece, "Balance", is by far the best on this album and truly one of the best things Sanders has ever put together. Everything comes together to form a massive, unrelenting storm of a song. The drones get harsher in the background while Sanders wails and Sharrock picks away at anything left on his guitar. 

The self titled track, which also happens to be the longest, seems to go all over the place. Leon is back with his vocals for a period of time but seems to go away after a while. A motif also seems to be repeated multiple times throughout, trying to keep the piece as cohesive as possible. This is Sanders at his most diverse. 

Favorite Song: Balance

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