Saxophonist and composer born in Little Rock (Arkansas), on October 13, 1940, Farrell Sanders, known as “Pharoah” Sanders, died in Los Angeles on September 24. Coincidence: John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926. Why, under this quasi-anniversary, summon the name of Coltrane so early?
Because they have in common this deep South marked by the racism of the United States? Because they both overlap the tenor saxophone? Because they push the tenor, out of spiritual fever, into the smallest of his entrenchments? Without throwing anything away: neither the tendrils of the over-treble, nor the shrillness of the treble, nor the hoarse of the bass, nor this vibrato to the tunes of “barine flatulence” (Rabelais), nor the extraordinary musicality of which the tenor saxophone reveals itself, unbeknownst to its inventor, Adolphe Sax (1814-1884), capable?
No: jazz is a pass. It is the music of mothers, transmitted by voice and harmonium. The loving profanation of mothers’ music (rhythm’n’blues for black use); its charming disfigurement by bourgeois taste (rock); its ever-renewed ontological rebellion, one of the most notable steps being taken by leaps and bounds (Giant Steps dated 1960) by John Coltrane. Which makes all kinds of assists – to Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders, etc. –, while philosophizing with Sonny Rollins, while a small people with short ideas poorly fantasizes them as rivals, jealous, enemies. Deep Mysteries of Friendship.
Let’s go back: in 1957, Farrell Sanders plays in church, in college, and quietly, in rhythm’n’blues groups. The same year, his hometown was the scene of one of the historic defeats of apartheid: nine African-American students entered high school in the most legal way in the world (« blanc », as they dare say), where they are admitted. This right has been enshrined in law for three years, but in the face of so much hatred in the city, the “Little Rock Nine” can only enter under the protection of the guard. The Governor of Arkansas, Faubus, refuses this right to the “Nine of Little Rock”. This right displeases him. His Ku Klux Klan friends get involved. President Eisenhower is forced to give the troop. Global scandal. Featured photo of France Evening. In 1957, Farrell Sanders was 17 years old. Why, while weaving its legend, do we take so little account of this decisive event?
Ongoing revolution
A few months later, the mother’s harmonium for spiritual harmonies, and the scandal of Little Rock for music theory, the young Sanders left for San Francisco. He hides in rhythm’n’blues, it’s his lot, but listens for real Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.
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