Pharoah Sanders – Pharoah (2023 Luaka Bop Deluxe Edition 2LP Box Set)

Originally recorded in 1976 and released on India Navigation, Pharoah has long stood as one of Pharoah Sanders’ most elusive works — intimate, spiritual, and unlike anything else in his catalogue. In 2023, Luaka Bop restored and reissued the album in a deluxe box set, pairing the original studio sessions with two previously unreleased live recordings from 1977 and wrapping it all in stunning archival design.

The album’s centrepiece, Harvest Time, is a deep, meditative groove — Sanders on tenor saxophone, bells, and voice, joined by Bedria Sanders on harmonium, Tisziji Muñoz on guitar, Steve Neil on bass, and Greg Bandy on drums. The sound is stripped back, devotional and hypnotic, a world away from his Impulse-era fire. Love Will Find a Way and Memories of Edith Johnson unfold with the same warmth and openness, each instrument breathing in the same sacred air.

The second LP, Harvest Time Live 1977, captures the piece reborn on stage in Middelheim and Willisau, recorded by VRT and Walter Troxler. The expanded ensemble — with Hayes Burnett, Clifford Jarvis, and Khalid Moss — takes the composition into freer, more ecstatic terrain, the music shimmering between control and surrender.

Remastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and produced under the guidance of the Pharoah Sanders estate, the set comes with extraordinary attention to detail: a 24-page booklet, replica tour memorabilia, and both matte and glossy gatefold sleeves housed inside an embossed box with foil detailing.

For listeners of modal and soul-jazz, this is the definitive edition of Pharoah — a document of transcendence rediscovered, made physical again by one of the most meticulous reissue projects in recent memory.