Not enough ink is spent trumpeting the effort of record labels. They have vacillated constantly throughout music history as either painstaking pioneers of the arts or merciless huckster robateers of defenseless performers. Either way, they became the avenue between songs played in the parlors of America and the glittering lure of the marketplace. Time travel to 1970 where college students in Boston and Worcester decide to start a record label that “champions and preserves the music of artists whose work falls outside the mainstream.” And so Rounder Records gets born. 3000 titles released including aging icons, new blood, and multi-genres with the likes of Norman Blake, George Thorogood, Allison Krause, NRBQ, Mary Chaplin Carpenter etc. in the fold. The name came from the shape of an lp, the slang term for a hobo and an homage to a legendary folk group of the time (referenced above) the Holy Modal Rounders. So a small pebble gets dropped into the electromagnetic pond and the rivulets continue to ripple …… two samples and album covers from the Rounder Heritage collection, plus they let Michael Hurley run with the ball and paint all his albums front cover and back.
“Leaves were falling, just like embers
In colors red and gold, they set us on fire
Burning just like a moonbeam in our eyes
Somebody said they saw me
Swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud
Killing the blues
Now I am guilty of something
I hope you never do because there is nothing
Sadder than losing yourself in love
Somebody said they saw me
Swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud
Killing the blues
Now you ask me, just to leave you
To go out on my own
And get what I need to
You want me to find what I’ve already had
Somebody said they saw me
Swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud
Killing the blues
Somebody said they saw me
Swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud
Killing the blues”
“Pharoah Sanders moved on to the astral plane on September 24th of this year at the age of 81. He was the last living member of the final John Coltrane Group from 1965-1967. As Albert Ayler has often been quoted, “Coltrane was the father; Pharoah the son, and I was the Holy Ghost.” The trinity is now reunited in the hereafter.
After being part of the final dozen recordings that Coltrane made for Impulse, Pharoah was featured on three very strong records made by Coltrane’s widow, Alice. He recorded one LP as a leader for Impulse, Tauhid, prior to Coltrane’s death, but his strongest work was from 1969 through 1972 in which he recorded eight albums: Karma, Jewels of Thought, Izipho Zam, Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun), Thembi, Black Unity, and Live at the East.
A friend of mine who was talking about his graduation from Clark said, “I didn’t graduate Summa Cum Laude, I graduated Summun Bukmun Umyun.” Fifty years later and it still elicits a smile.
I can’t recall the members of his band, but I believe Lonnie Liston Smith or Joe Bonner was on keyboards, Clifford Jarvis on drums, Cecil McBee on bass and others on horns and percussion. The Jazz Workshop was typical of venues at the time with waitresses urging you to purchase drinks and the sound of the cash register and chatter often audible during the quieter passages. Pharoah and crew were more than capable of overcoming those distractions. Live they were very much the equal or better than their excellent LPs.
In interviews with NPR and The New Yorker Pharoah said, “I listen to myself so that I know what I need to work on, and I let that be my guide. I’ve always been like that, especially when I was small. I used to love hearing old car doors squeaking. Maybe it’s something you’re really into, then maybe you’ll get a sound like that. So I’m always trying to make something that might sound bad sound beautiful in some way. I’m a person who just starts playing anything I want to play, and make it turn out to be maybe some beautiful music.”
On this night in Boston with a fine group of musicians it did turn out to be some beautiful music.
The Creator Does Indeed Have a Master Plan and Pharoah was a profound spiritual traveler who deserved greater acclaim from the public. Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to witness his preaching.”
Thanks to Bill Boehm for tipping us off to this prodigious Welsh guitarist
from the Alabama painter Bill Traylor
The Fantastic Johnny. C