Message From Home

Personnel: Pharoah Sanders (tenor & soprano saxophones, flute, bells, bowls, vocals); Michael White (violin); Foday Musa Suso (kora, dousongonni, vocals); William Henderson (piano, electric piano, vocals); Bernie Worrell (keyboards, vocals); Dominic Kanza (guitar); Charnett Moffett (acoustic bass); Steve Neil (acoustic & electric basses); Hamid Drake (drums, tablas, frame drums, vocals); Aiyb Dieng (chatan, congas, bells, gongs, vocals); Jeff Bova (programming, keyboards); Mariama Suso, Salie Suso, Fanta Mangasuba, Fatoumata Sako (background vocals).
Recorded at Sony Studio, New York, New York and Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn New York. Includes liner notes by Bill Murphy.
Personnel: Pharoah Sanders (vocals, flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, bowls, bells); Foday Musa Suso (vocals, kora); William Henderson (vocals, piano, electric piano); Bernie Worrell (vocals, keyboards); Hamid Drake (vocals, drums, tabla); Aïyb Dieng (vocals, congas, bells, gong); Dominic Kanza (guitar); Michael White (violin); Jeff Bova (keyboards, programming); Steve Neil (acoustic bass, electric bass); Charnett Moffett (acoustic bass); Fatoumata Sako, Mariama Suso, Salie Suso, Fanta Mangasuba (background vocals).
Recording information: Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn NY; Greepoint Studio, Brooklyn, NY; Sony Studio, New York, NY.
The world music-minded producer Bill Laswell gets a hold of Pharoah Sanders here and lo, the sleeping volcano erupts with one of his most fulfilling albums in many a year. Message From Home is rooted in, but not exclusively devoted to, African idioms, as the overpowering hip-hop groove of "Our Roots (Began In Africa)" points out. But the record really develops into something special when Sanders pits his mighty tenor sound against the pan-African beats, like the ecstatically joyful rhythms of "Tomoki" and the poised, percolating fusion of American country & western drums and Nigerian juju guitar riffs on "Country Mile." In addition, "Nozipho" is a concentrated dose of the old Pharoah, heavily spiritual and painfully passionate, with a generous supply of the tenor player's famous screeching rhetoric, and kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso shows up on "Kumba" with a touch of village Gambian music. This resurrection will quicken the pulse of many an old Pharoah fan. ~ Richard S. Ginell