Farrell Sanders

Farrell "Pharoah" Sanders grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, playing clarinet in church and drums before taking up tenor saxophone. Moving to New York City in 1961, he lived in poverty, sleeping in subway cars and pawning his horn, until Sun Ra gave him clothes, a place to stay, and the cosmic name "Pharoah." In 1965, John Coltrane invited Sanders to join his final, intensely spiritual ensemble, recording Ascension and Live in Japan.

Following Coltrane's death in 1967, Sanders recorded monumental albums with Coltrane's widow, pianist Alice Coltrane, and launched his own solo career on Impulse! Records. His 1969 masterpiece Karma, featuring vocalist Leon Thomas on the 32-minute spiritual anthem "The Creator Has a Master Plan", became a definitive landmark of spiritual jazz. Sanders received a Grammy in 1989 and enjoyed a triumphant late-career renaissance with electronic producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra on Promises (2021).