Live at the East

by Scott YanowBy 1971 Pharoah Sanders's playing essentially alternated between two moods: ferocious and peaceful. This live LP (whose contents have not yet been reissued on CD) gives one a good example of how the passionate tenor sounded in clubs during the early '70s. Sanders is joined by an impressive group of players: trumpeter Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson, flutist Carlos Garnett, Harold Vick on tenor, pianist Joe Bonner, the basses of Stanley Clarke and Cecil McBee, drummers Norman Connors and Billy Hart and percussionist Lawrence Killian. On the 20-minute "Healing Song," the lengthy "Memories of J.W. Coltrane" and the two-part "Lumkili," Pharoah Sanders is heard in top form.