Karma
One thirty-two-minute piece and a coda: the spiritual-jazz record that reached the pop charts and FM radio.
Pharoah Sanders, 1969
- Released
- May 1969
- Recorded
- 14 and 19 February 1969
- Studio
- RCA Studios, New York
- Label
- Impulse!
- Producer
- Bob Thiele
Karma is almost entirely The Creator Has a Master Plan, split across both sides of the LP, with Colors closing the second. Sanders's band included Leon Thomas on vocals, Lonnie Liston Smith on piano, Julius Watkins on French horn, James Spaulding on flute, two bassists in Reggie Workman and Richard Davis, and Billy Hart on drums. Bob Thiele recalled an executive at the parent company asking what kind of crap this was. It spent half a year on Billboard's jazz chart, reaching five, entered the main album chart, and is now his most acclaimed record; Pitchfork ranked it among the best albums of the 1960s.
Track listing
- The Creator Has a Master Plan32:46 split across both LP sides
- Colors5:37
Personnel
- Pharoah Sanders tenor saxophone
- Leon Thomas vocals, percussion
- Julius Watkins French horn
- James Spaulding flute
- Lonnie Liston Smith piano
- Reggie Workman bass
- Richard Davis bass
- Billy Hart drums
- Nathaniel Bettis percussion
More from Pharoah Sanders
Thembi (1971), Pharoah (1977), Promises (2021)
Sources
- Karma (Pharoah Sanders album), Wikipedia
- Pharoah Sanders in Billboard, 1969-1974, Current Research in Jazz (Pierre Crépon) (2022)
- Karma (Impulse! LP), Discogs