Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (2025 Strata-East LP Reissue, Gatefold)

Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam (My Gifts) | Vinyl LP - 2025 Strata-East/Mack Avenue Reissue, 180g Gatefold (SES-19733-25LP, Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio, RTI)

• Recorded January 14, 1969 at TownSound Studios, Englewood NJ — one month before Karma — with a 13-piece ensemble including Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Sonny Sharrock, Sonny Fortune, Howard Johnson, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart; not released until 1973 on Strata-East; described by The New York Times as one of "15 Essential Black Liberation Jazz Tracks"
• Three Sanders originals across two sides: "Prince of Peace" and "Balance" on Side A; the 28-minute title track on Side B — West African percussion, yodel-scatting vocals from Leon Thomas, free improvisation and meditative chant; Wikipedia's entry calls it "a transitional album, between the unrelenting ferocity of Sanders's work with John Coltrane and the more blissed-out albums he would go on to make"
• First time the original 1969 session has been officially available on vinyl since the original 1973 Strata-East pressing; mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio directly from the original analog tapes; pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI; gatefold with new liner notes by Harmony Holiday
• Strata-East/Mack Avenue SES-19733-25LP; released October 2025

Pharoah Sanders recorded Izipho Zam on January 14, 1969 — two years after John Coltrane's death, while still processing what that loss meant for his own music. The session assembled thirteen musicians at TownSound Studios in Englewood, New Jersey: Sonny Fortune on alto saxophone and flute, Howard Johnson on tuba, Lonnie Liston Smith on piano, Sonny Sharrock on guitar, Cecil McBee and Sirone (Norris Jones) on bass, Billy Hart and Majeed Shabazz on drums, Chief Bey on African drums, Nat Bettis and Tony Wylie on percussion, Leon Thomas on vocals and percussion, and Sanders himself on tenor, flute, percussion and voice. Orville O'Brien engineered; Clifford Jordan Jr. produced.

"Izipho Zam" is a Zulu phrase meaning "my gifts." The title track fills all of Side B — twenty-eight minutes of West African percussion, Thomas's distinctive yodel-scat vocal technique, Sanders's tenor pushing outward, the ensemble pulling between restraint and total release. Side A holds two shorter pieces: "Prince of Peace," which opens the record with Thomas's voice high in the mix, and "Balance." All three compositions are Sanders originals published by Pharoah Sanders Music Company.

The session was recorded in January 1969 but sat unreleased until 1973, when Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell's Strata-East label issued it. This reissue is the first time the recording has been officially available on vinyl since that original pressing. Kevin Gray mastered at Cohearent Audio directly from the original analog tapes; RTI pressed it on 180g vinyl. The gatefold includes new liner notes by Harmony Holiday. Sanders died on September 24, 2022.