PHAROAH SANDERS
Thembi
Recording Date:
November 25, 1970 tk 1-4
January 12, 1970 tk 5-6
Personnel:
Pharoah Sanders TS,FL,F,etc
Lonnie Liston Smith P,Cym, etc
Cecil McBee B
Roy Haynes D
Nat Bettis Per
Chief Bey Per
Majid Shabazz Per
Anthony Wiles Per
LINK
Review by Steve Huey
Recorded with two different ensembles, Thembi was a departure from the slowly developing, side-long, mantra-like grooves Pharoah Sanders had been pursuing for most of his solo career. It's musically all over the map but, even if it lacks the same consistency of mood as many of Sanders' previous albums, it does offer an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas, making it something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period. Over the six selections, Sanders romps through a tremendous variety of instruments, including tenor, soprano, alto flute, fifes, the African bailophone, assorted small percussion, and even a cow horn. Perhaps because he's preoccupied elsewhere, there's relatively little of his trademark tenor screaming, limited mostly to the thunderous cacophony of "Red, Black & Green" and portions of "Morning Prayer." The compositions, too, try all sorts of different things. Keyboardist/pianist Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Traveling" is a shimmering, pastoral piece centered around his electric piano textures; "Love" is an intense, five-minute bass solo by Cecil McBee; and "Morning Prayer" and "Bailophone Dance" (which are segued together) add an expanded percussion section devoted exclusively to African instruments. If there's a unifying factor, it's the classic title track, which combines the softer lyricism of Sanders' soprano and Michael White's violin with the polyrhythmic grooves of the most Africanized material (not to mention a catchy bass riff). Some fans may gripe that Thembi isn't conceptually unified or intense enough, but it's rare to have this many different sides of Sanders coexisting in one place, and that's what makes the album such an interesting listen.
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM 
Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand) was a newcomer to Europe in 1963, having recently left his homeland South Africa. His wife Bea Benjamin had persuaded Duke Ellington to see Brand perform, and he was so impressed that he produced Brand on a record date for Reprise with Dollar's trio (which included bassist Johnny Gertze and drummer Makaya Ntshoko), reissued on CD in 1997. Brand, who at the time was very influenced by Thelonious Monk and (to a lesser extent) Ellington, performs five originals plus Monk's "Brilliant Corners." Although his style was not as distinctive as it would become (there is little heard of his country's folk music), this is a consistently stimulating, exploratory and recommended, if (at 33-minutes) brief set. 
