With so much already available and an endless supply of reissues that have already been reissued continent to be released, it’s always great to see some digging deeper to give us something unheard or at least in the rare department that makes our ears stand up. Over the last few years, Jazz has become my choice at home listening and the upcoming Pharoah Sanders – Live in Paris 1975: The Lost ORTF Recordings release is something to set the pulse racing of any serious jazz enthusiast: a recently rediscovered recording of a live performance made by the Pharoah Sanders Quartet at the Grand Auditorium at Studio 104, Paris, in 1975.
The tenor saxophonist is undoubtedly the star of the show throughout, though the fluidity of the double bass playing, the loose-limbed drumming and the rush-inducing breeziness of the piano parts – especially on “Love Is Here” parts one and two, which reminded us of another Sanders classic “You’ve Got To Have Freedom” – are all equally as ear-catching. Musically, it’s as inspired as you’d expect, nestling somewhere between the great maestro’s greatest “astral jazz” recordings and more traditional forms of jazz.