SANDERS, Pharoah - Thembi (Verve By Request) - AUDIOPHILE VINYL LP

Thembi was recorded with two different ensembles, marking a departure from the slowly developing, side-long, mantra-like grooves Pharoah Sanders had been pursuing for most of his solo career. It's musically all over the map but, even if it lacks the same consistency of mood as many of Sanders' previous albums, it does offer an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas, making it something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period. Over the six selections, Sanders romps through a tremendous variety of instruments, including tenor, soprano, alto flute, fifes, the African bailophone, assorted small percussion, and even a cow horn. Perhaps because he's preoccupied elsewhere, there's relatively little of his trademark tenor screaming, limited mostly to the thunderous cacophony of \""Red, Black & Green\"" and portions of \""Morning Prayer.\"" The compositions, too, try all sorts of different things. Keyboardist/pianist Lonnie Liston Smith's \""Astral Traveling\"" is a shimmering, past.