Pharoah Sanders and Porgy and Bess

[Gheorghe]

Last Friday I saw the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and Porgy´s .

William Henderson piano, Oli Hayhurst bass and Gene Calderazzo drums.

I got to live concerts since I was a young boy and have some fantastic memories, but I´m sure this was one of the best concerts I ever heard.

I was deeply impressed by the music.

Mr. Sanders still has much power and played at an astonishing level. Each of the long tunes was a beauty.

Though Mr. Sanders played like a man much younger than 73 years, but besides his great playing he looked much older than he is.

When he didn´t solo, he left the stand, obviously to relax backstages, but when he made his way back, there he was with his big tone and fantastic music.

William Henderson has played with him for many many years and did some fantastic piano solos. Oli Hayhurst and Gene Calderazzo also are really great musicians and did beautiful solos.

The second set was quite shorter than the first one. We hoped he might do an encore, but he didn´t come back on stage.

I had brought with me my old LP "Life at the East", which actually was the first Sanders-LP I bought almost 40 years ago. I thought maybe I´d get an autograph and could tell Mr. Sanders how much I love his music and that I bought that record 40 years ago, but then I thought it might not be a good idea to disturb the man, who gave us so much. Thought it might be a lack of respect to try to get my record signed.....

Anyway, the only important thing is the music, and music he played on that evening.

[sidewinder]

William Henderson has played with him for many many years

Blimey, is he still with him? He was in the Sanders lineup when I saw them back in 1990 !

[clifford_thornton]

Wow, sounds great. For whatever reason I've never seen Pharoah in concert, though his music has been a part of my life for quite a while.

[Gheorghe]

Try to catch a concert with him and it will be an unforgettable experience.

First I saw him in 1985, he was great, but the surroundings was a drag, because it was one of those festivals, where you had on the same time three groups scheduled and I wanted to catch each of them: Jackie McLean, Lou Donaldson, and Pharoah Sanders. So I first had to listen to some tunes by Mc Lean, then to rush to the next hall to catch Lou Donaldson, and then the last two tunes of Pharoah.

Yes, Henderson has been with Pharoah for a very long time, before that he had John Hicks.