View source for Spirits (Pharoah Sanders album)

{{Infobox album
| name       = Spirits
| type       = live
| artist     = [[Pharoah Sanders]], [[Hamid Drake]], and [[Adam Rudolph]]
| cover      = Sanders_Drake_Rudolph_Spirits.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 2000
| recorded   = July 4, 1998
| venue      = [[Montreal Jazz Festival]]
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Free jazz]]
| length     = 1:00:19
| label      = Meta Records<br><small>MAH / META 004</small>
| producer   = Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake, Pharoah Sanders
| chronology = [[Pharoah Sanders]]
| prev_title = [[Save Our Children (album)|Save Our Children]]
| prev_year  = 1998
| next_title = [[The Creator Has a Master Plan]]
| next_year  = 2003
}}
'''''Spirits''''' is a live album by saxophonist [[Pharoah Sanders]] on which he is joined by percussionists [[Hamid Drake]] and [[Adam Rudolph]]. It was recorded on July 4, 1998, at the [[Montreal Jazz Festival]], and was released in 2000 by Meta Records. The album presents a continuous performance which can be heard as a three-part suite.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/spirits-mw0000062877 |title=Pharoah Sanders: Spirits |first=Michael G. |last=Nastos |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/pharoah-sanders/spirits(live) |title=Pharoah Sanders - Spirits |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://metarecords.com/spirits.html |title=Spirits |website=Meta Records |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzdisco.org/pharoah-sanders/discography/#980000 |title=Pharoah Sanders Discography |website=Jazz Disco |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_Pharoah_Sanders.htm |title=Pharoah Sanders discography |website=Jazz Lists |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref>
==Reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic" />
| rev2 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]''
| rev2Score = {{rating|3|4}}<ref name="penguin">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2006 |pages=1151 }}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev3score = 8/10<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=How to Buy Pharoah Sanders|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|date=November 2023|page=69}}</ref>
}}
In a review for [[AllMusic]], Michael G. Nastos called the album "a beautiful statement," and wrote: "The music is as the title suggests: spiritual, multi-ethnic, mostly serene, and quite improvisationally derived... Fans of Sanders will be easily able to connect this music with his past glories... Recommended."<ref name="allmusic" />
The authors of ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]]'' noted: "This is one of the most satisfying of Sanders's recent recordings... Pharoah is blowing with a magisterial ease and authority. A challenging format, but the bearded one more than rises to the challenge."<ref name="penguin" />
Bill Shoemaker of ''[[Jazz Times]]'' described ''Spirits'' as "a moving concert recording," and stated that Sanders "listens intently, and he soars as a result... ''Spirits''... has the centered glow of indigenous music as well as the occasional jazz spark. As a result, Sanders has a new credibility as an elder of timeless traditions."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jazztimes.com/archives/pharoah-sandershamid-drakeadam-rudolph-spirits |title=Pharoah Sanders/Hamid Drake/Adam Rudolph: Spirits |first=Bill |last=Shoemaker |date=October 1, 2000 |website=Jazz Times |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref>
Chris May of ''[[All About Jazz]]'' called the recording "a beautiful album," and commented: "''Spirits'' is stripped-down astral jazz... but is no less transporting than those of his albums in the style featuring bigger lineups."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/pharoah-sanders-hamid-drake-adam-rudolph-spirits-pharoah-sanders-by-chris-may |title=Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph: Spirits |first=Chris |last=May |date=November 22, 2011 |website=All About Jazz |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref> ''AAJ'''s Derek Taylor remarked: "Throughout all of the tracks Sanders unintentionally answers his critics proving that his sound hasn't mellowed over the years, it's expanded. There is every bit of the fire of his 60s work infused in his sound today; it's simply been enlarged and enhanced by the advent of age."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/spirits-pharoah-sanders-meta-review-by-derek-taylor |title=Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph: Spirits |first=Derek |last=Taylor |date=August 1, 2000 |website=All About Jazz |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref> ''AAJ'' writer Mark Corroto stated: "This is the Sanders of ''Karma'', ''Shukuru'', and ''Welcome to Love''. If you have found this recording, treasure it, meditate with it, and somebody please sign Pharoah Sanders to a major label."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/spirits-pharoah-sanders-meta-review-by-mark-corroto |title=Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph: Spirits |first=Mark |last=Corroto |date=July 1, 2000 |website=All About Jazz |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref>
==Track listing==
Composed by Hamid Drake, Adam Rudolph, and Pharoah Sanders
# "Sunrise" – 19:12
# "Morning in Soweto" – 5:00
# "Thousand Petalled Lotus" – 6:59
# "I and Thou" – 2:05
# "Uma Lake" – 3:14
# "Ancient Peoples" – 7:35
# "Calling to the Luminous Beings" – 5:54
# "Roundhouse" – 2:28
# "Molimo" – 2:44
# "Sunset" – 5:08
== Personnel ==
* [[Pharoah Sanders]] – tenor saxophone, vocals, wood flutes, percussion
* [[Hamid Drake]] – trap drums, vocals, percussion, tabla, frame drums
* [[Adam Rudolph]] – congas, percussion, thumb piano, talking drum, bamboo flute, overtone singing, gong
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Hamid Drake}}
{{Pharoah Sanders}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:2000 live albums]]
[[Category:2000 collaborative albums]]
[[Category:Pharoah Sanders live albums]]
[[Category:Hamid Drake live albums]]
[[Category:Live free jazz albums]]