 |   Publisher : Impulse! Records Our Price: $9.49 |
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Customer reviews
Where it all comes together for Pharoah by .. A. Benjamin (Goodwell, OK United States)
Of all of Pharoah's albums, this ranks among my favorites. The album consists of a single 37+ minute track of African-inspired percussive grooves and ace free-form jamming by Pharoah and his sidemen. Like much of his late 1960s-early 1970s work, the piece alternates between anarchistic cacaphony and sheer mellow bliss but seems to work as an organic whole a bit more effectively than his other excellent albums of the time. Note the bass-line from "The Creator Has a Master Plan" reprised toward the end of the piece -- nice touch. Definitely well-worth picking up and grooving to for fans of adventurous spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz, acid jazz, and world music fans who want to explore fusions of world and jazz idioms. World fusion with teeth? Yeah. Dig it.
If you like this, make sure to check out the rest of Pharoah's label mates on Impulse! A shame that the conglomerate that owns the Impulse! label is no longer interested in reissuing the Impulse! back catalog on cd, and is threating to delete those Impulse! gems that are currently in print.
CHANGED MY LIFE by .. Ligament (Chicago)
I am a DJ of over a decade experience and collecting. I have listened to tens of thousands of albums and this is one of the handful that was powerful enough to actually take me by the soul and change me, helping me GROW for the better. I pull it out on special occasions in my life when things are overwhelming. This is an AMAZING album, my favorite of Pharoah's and one of my favorite of all time, of any genre. BUY BUY BUY.
Awesome! by .. ()
Though not even close to the wildest or freakiest thing Pharoah has ever done (check out Sun in Aquarius at about the 20 minute mark!) this may be Pharoah's strongest, most cohesive statement. Fueled by a two basses and plenty of african percussion, Black Unity is trance music at its best.
Incredible 37.5 Minute Groove! Grabs and Holds Your Intrest by .. Talking Wall (Queen Creek, AZ)
I LOVE this release, even more so than Karma and Jewels of Thought. Cecil McBee, Stanley Clarke, Billy Hart, and Norman Connors along with what sounds like an army of African percussionists lay down an amazing groove while while the horns take it in turns to go wild. There are some hornless sections that focus on the Balophone as sort of African marimba. The first time I heard Black Unity, I played it over and over again for three days straight. With the exception of what sounds like some sort of electronic keyboard fading in and out with a droning chord, it's all acoustic. Sanders is amazing. He's doing with his sax, imagination, and circular breathing what Hendrix did with an electric guitar with a battery of electronic gadgets.
If you are a fan of the Impulse label, especially the late 60's and early 70's then Black Unity is essential. The energy is incredible. The only thing I can compare it to in terms of Energy is Miles Davis "It's About That Time, March 7, 1970 Fillmore East".
Dig it!
Tribal rudimentary funk! by .. vivek savant (Chicago, IL)
Not exactly what you'd expect out of a Sanders album esp. on the avant driven Impulse label. But this album is one continuous 38-minute drive of improvised free-funk jam. What took me up within 2 minutes of this brilliant composition was Stanley Clarke's bass lines (am not sure whether Cecil McBee is grooving simultaneously) and Joe Bonner's piano. I didn't even know Stanley Clarke was part of the free-jazz scene and this is his best playing I've ever heard. Of course, as with a Sanders' late 60s/early 70s staple, there was a huge dose of free music, but in between all that melodic cacophony is a sense of structure (unlike some of this other avant-garde stuff esp. with Coltrane).
Like Clarke who went on later to soul-funk-R-n-B territories, drummer Norman Connors too (a surprise again) started the free-jazz route (as finely displyed here) to eventually dwindle in
R-n-B. Get this one. It's a classic in the league of "A Love Supreme".