Pharoah Sanders - "Kazuko" - An Abandoned Tunnel

[@BrianSiskind]

My spiritual guide is now free to roam. What a life. RIP Pharoah Sanders. When I was 23 - in 1995, and I had just started assisting live sound at the Knitting Factory, he was playing 2 sets a night for 5 nights. I experienced every set, some while working and some just in the audience. I have never been the same. On the opening night, after they soundchecked, everyone left, except me, and Pharoah. Pharoah went to the back to practice. He didn't know anyone else was around. I sat around the corner slumped in a hallway, and listened to him play, alone, for probably 45 minutes. It was like he told me everything I needed to know about life in that moment. I sat and smiled and cried and smiled and went places in my mind and came back... no one there... just Pharoah playing to the gods while I listened. My life was so drastically altered and opened because of Pharoah Sanders. Go find him now. He is still out there, and you can listen too, like I did. If you watch and listen to this with full attention from beginning to end, you will be elevated to a new consciousness too.

[@exactlywhatisaid]

that's beautiful man

[@tomybogadjian1487]

this is crazy. thank you

[@bobbybringi]

Brian, thanks for sharing these deep insights. May his souls roam and Rest In Peace and power😢

[@fokal.strktr]

[@gad_mosheshalom5099]

Waht an amazing experience you had. R.i.p unbelievable musician he was.

[@ZenaSagar]

Who's watching it in August of 2024. So ethereal.

[@Gretta1969]

im wathcing it in october

[@nztree]

I'm watching it in November.

[@Matt-sj8ik]

I'm watching it in December

[@mazo1772]

how is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?

[@johnhopkins494]

That's wonderful. Consider questioning the nature of what you have known.

[@tcrump212IsLmbrJck_t]

That is simply you being able to now connect with your higher self, which is outside of all time. You’re able to perceive the melancholia that the higher self experiences or rather, you experience it as a form of déjà vu when in actuality, it is your higher self perceiving that Dimension, if that makes any sense 😂

[@mazo1772]

@@tcrump212IsLmbrJck_t i'm completely disconnected from reality

[@oneheartgaming]

@@tcrump212IsLmbrJck_t no

[@glenthemann]

Past life bro

[@secretpeachmachine]

2024 I listen to this whenever I lose something important in life prbly to heal idk tho cheers from china

[@secularhumanistfrontroyal2230]

This is what childhood sounds like.

[@zugfilms]

It’s almost as if he is playing for all of humanity

[@pumazpawz]

He is.

[@alexsalinas32381]

He is and it's not like he even knows how to say that without a horn. So humble and such a path

[@kkngd391]

Perfectly put!

[@theundeads1]

i like to think hes playing for more than humanity, like hes shouting way up above us so those who have left us can still hear us.

[@AtticusLaineBlos]

I wish I knew others who liked this type of music. So beautiful.

[@novastorm7841]

Szymanowksi pfp and listens to Pharoah Sanders? Unfathomably based

[@jacobsonjj]

We are out here, few and far between, but we are here. I constantly say the same thing. Where are my people ?

[@haysfordays]

Me.

[@Suburb_hell]

The fact there’s an ad in the middle of this is a sin. Beautiful piece by Pharoah

[@ysf-psfx]

Get Adblock and Adblock Plus. You'll never see another. They are free.

[@towerofresonance4877]

Apparently it's been removed

[@whatonearth681]

@@towerofresonance4877nah I still got it lol

[@HenritheHorse]

Adblock exists.

[@cumulusfrisbee4497]

i cannot overstate how infinitely and eternally cool this is

[@bajskuk]

i can

[@bert_gimspon]

Infinitely AND eternally? Lol... Wow that's like twice the, foreverness..

[@ItchyKneeSon]

I believe the words of Lenny Pepperbottom describe it perfectly. "That's pretty neat."

[@clemmycloo699]

This is the best thing I could’ve listened too to start off 2024.

[@IsaiahKeivon]

My GF passed away recently, 29 years young. This allows the emotions to just pour out of me. It’s not even sadness. Just peace and acceptance. Thank you Sir, RIH

[@themplanetz]

Really sorry about your loss mate. Sending good vibes your way.

[@kevscho3779]

That’s nice you shared the tough experience with us. It gives us perspective on something we’ve been through or are going to go through. Blessings to you.

[@Simon-xi8tb]

you will meet her again

[@wildquest7986]

just seen this, wish your beloved a journey home with love...can barely imagine...thank you for sharing

[@ATLS702]

The instrument Pharoah’s accompanist is playing is called a harmonium. Similar to accordion but without buttons

[@eyeliketwoskate]

ur a legend m8

[@olebennyboy7462]

Thank you, I thought it was a shruti box

[@ATLS702]

@@olebennyboy7462thank you for sharing! I had no idea of this instrument, take the keys away from this and you have the shruti box. Very interesting

[@olebennyboy7462]

@@ATLS702 No, thank you for sharing. Now we both know new instruments

[@thecapricorn11]

indian

[@davidsandstrom9255]

This music is so important. Don't let love slip away.

[@graceandgratitude9256]

Ase'O!!!!💙🩵💙

[@evelynflasch]

I am so lucky and thankful I found this

[@evelynflasch]

I'm so upset I didn't discover this before he died last year

[@Elhastezy888]

​@@evelynflasch why be upset (?) you were supposed to find it now🤍

[@mattolika]

Me and some friends had the privilege to see Pharaoh Sanders play in August 2022 at We Out Here festival, which would go on to be his final live performance. They opened with this song and while the man himself was fashionably late and did seem quite frail (he needed his bandmates to help him in/out of his chair), you wouldn't believe the power in his lungs at 81 and his enduring ability to draw energy through his music and breathe it out as pure emotion to the crowd. About 5000 people huddled on a hill to watch a man who has been a leading figure in Jazz and an active contributor to modern music for nearly 70 years display his virtuosic mastery one final time. He managed to create such an incredible feeling of unity amongst the crowd - looking around and seeing people you've never met before brought to the same tears as yourself, holding loved ones and stunned into humbled silence - from the moment they began playing there was an immediate impression on the crowd that we were witnessing something profound and much larger than all of us. He was escorted on and off stage by his son the incredibly talented Tomoki Sanders, who's words on his death will do better than mine: "To some, they lost Pharaoh Sanders, one of the greatest black creatives in black American music... To some, they lost a friend, who had a big heart, and a beautiful and humble spirit... To some, they lost Ferrell Lee Sanders, a brother, a cousin, a husband, a father, an uncle, a grandfather To me, I lost a father, the best dad in the entire universe. I’ve been listening to his music, or music that sampled his music, relentlessly... and I am feeling better that, his sound and his music makes me feel that he’s still alive... As he says (after the festival), "the world needs more music! ..." and he’s absolutely right. The world needs more music" RIP Pharaoh Sanders 1940 - 2022

[@malk6277]

I just wanted to say: I get the exact same sense - that he lives on. I feel this with Fela Kuti also. Both created streams of meaning that hint at eternity, through their music. They journeyed and took us with them, and the sound says emphatically that the journey, the permutations, do not end.

[@백이스]

why parhaoh he is not egyptian

[@Ybor-ld6uq]

Blessed love brother. He STILL means so much to me and my family.

[@ancientsoundsfromthefuture4214]

Ths first song at WOH was actually John Coltrane's 'Welcome'. ;)

[@ericwaters8141]

@@백이스 apparently Sun Ra encouraged him to go by the name while Pharoah Sanders was living with him

[@eliotguerin192]

That tunnel is in the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco! You can still visit it

[@Elhastezy888]

Thank YOUuuu!! I knew it!! I flippin new *IT* 🤍 many many blessings

[@thecapricorn11]

can you?

[@shaggybreeks]

It's stuff like this that made me take up the saxophone. I probably should have taken up digging tunnels, but I love this beautiful music.

[@ozenfant_ozn]

lol

[@aumnipresence]

My inner walls crumble and I I burst into tears. We were all babies once. That baby is allowed to cry again tonight. 💐💐💐💐🙏🏼

[@vibrant19]

i wish at a certain time of day everyday this played thru loudspeakers througought all cities througoght the world. then everybody go back to work. calm and peaceful.

[@zypherax]

I thought the same but for hospitals. This and structures of silence by Steve Roach

[@LocsTheChef]

Being in 1 city, how do you know this records 5 was played everywhere? This record resonates with the depths of my soul yet I find it hard to contemplate this record was played for the masses. My parents nor grandparents never played Pharaoh but I feel him on another level.. my 2¢

[@hughdell4770]

Why going back to work or anything after this?

[@alexschultz742]

One day if I ever become wealthy enough to make it a reality, I think it'd be nice to start a sustainable farm project utilising the vast arid land in my state of Australia for a solar panel farm to power a hydroponic open air farm. Then as the sun set on this arid-desert land every evening, over a vast array of speakers pointed into the distant nowhere over these fields; this would play.

[@simonalford2495]

I am a student at Cornell University and three times a day the bell tower plays 15 minute chimes concerts that can be heard across campus. Sadly most days are pop songs that don't sound good on chimes. The large bells would be the perfect medium for music in the vein of Pharoah and other ambient work

[@TimUckun]

There is something transcendent about Pharoah's playing. He has always struck me a western Sufi mystic and nothing illustrates that more than this video. From the first frame to the last the spirit flows through breath and brass. "Hearken to this Reed forlorn, Breathing, even since 'twas torn From its rushy bed, a strain Of impassioned love and pain. The secret of my song, though near, None can see and none can hear. Oh for a friend to know the sign And mingle all his soul with mine! 'Tis the flame of Love that fired me, 'Tis the wine of Love inspired me. Wouldst thou learn how lovers bleed, Hearken, hearken to the Reed!" Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

[@brianpatterson7332]

What a beautiful piece of verse. Thanks for posting it. It goes so well with this gorgeous performance by Pharoah. (I 'll be seeing him live in Dublin in less than 3 weeks - can't wait!)

[@jowlorenz9555]

check out the creator has a master plan ...

[@westerrnredcedar]

Salaam Alikum, I am a practicing Sufi and neyzen/soprano saxophonist. From what I can tell Pharoah is Muslim and may even have taken hand (bayat) in a Sufi order. That being said I see this composition as in the tradition of devotional music he was taught by the great John Coltrane. I just shared this video with friends paired with a wonderful Ney Video as two expressions of devotional wind music.May the most merciful of the merciful continue to bless you. Hu

[@sechoochamakhoalibe625]

Soul soothing

[@BsYtHandle]

Thanks for the poetry.

[@ali2k]

i am having a stupid peeloff mask on my face for a saturday morning spa and tears started flowing down my face after the first few notes. its spring again in vienna, finally.

[@pbjracing14yearsago49]

This footage is taken from Mark B. Allen’s 2007 film "Pharoah Sanders Live In San Francisco!", which compiles concerts recorded in 1981 and 1982, alongside an interview with jazz journalist Herb Wong.

[@damienvalenzuela6786]

I watch this video whenever I feel scared of death. God bless you for this little piece of joy. Even when life gets bad you’re never alone. Everything and nothing.

[@junipercosmic6841]

Hi Damien 👋 You never have to be afraid of death if you have J e s u s. “Where, Oh death, is your victory? Where, Oh death, is your sting?” - C o r i n i n t h i a n s 1, 15:55.

[@Siimeon98]

Indeed! Jesus Christ is Lord. ❤️

[@Coincidence_Theorist]

Mushrooms will help you with that fear. Go out in nature and speak to God. Who made mushrooms hmmm ? Hm?

[@Funkfuzzz]

I would rather be scared of death than actually believe in this pathetic idea who you call god 😃

[@judah142]

@@Funkfuzzz this is a sad comment my friend i hope you get better

[@JamesVibe]

Pharaoh Sanders was fucking deep........ so incredibly beautiful

[@zypherax]

I want this to play during my funeral

[@danjaspen5721]

I always pictured "Psalm" from A Love Supreme playing at mine but this fits too.

[@mamanomusa-storyteller764]

Let's just admit we won't die until they agree to play it. Gotta put it in my will...

[@thomasandersen2764]

and to be played by my resurrection

[@anamariaguzman1483]

me too

[@ysf-psfx]

"Filthy Habits" by Frank Zappa

[@orchidcut]

Speechless

[@mistery-ed7900]

How many times have you returned to this video? For me it must be at least 20

[@dg1llard]

mistery-ed Dozens! Always will.

[@ladyaudiomusic]

Me too. Dozens.

[@thebongblob1904]

the last time will be my funeral!

[@mistery-ed7900]

@@thebongblob1904 I'm probably up to a hundred times by now.

[@rocknurzo]

thanks for taking me to this video! came from the poolside lol

[@idontknowwhereimgoingbutim5238]

you don't understand, i could actually feel the emotions conveyed through those sullen melodies. i feel a deep sense of profound sadness, sometimes a peace that trancends my own comprehension of being, as such sensations are rarely ever evoked so gracefully as this piece. now i feel both hopeful and enlightened by the world, now i am devastated. fuck. i can't believe this exists.

[@markallensf]

What a thrill to read all these amazing comments! Thank you all. Ever since I first heard Pharoah’s music I envisioned something like this performance. For helping to make this happen, thanks go to my wife Barbara Allen and partner Allan Kessler; Allen Pittman, Mark Needham, and Betty Kazuko Ishida of Theresa Records; Benjamin Young, Jim Nadel, and André Spears; and: Howard Rosen of Evidence Music. And of course, thanks to Pharoah and Paul Arslanian for this sublime performance!

[@timneave3240]

Well, thanks to you to the utmost too.

[@danielmiller-lionberg5037]

Mark Allen, this is awesome, thanks for helping make it happen. I've listened to/watched it many times. Are there more pieces to this performance - is this part of a larger set? Is it available to get in higher res somewhere? Fascinated.... Thanks.

[@danielmiller-lionberg5037]

Ah, I did find this Library of Congress listing www.loc.gov/item/jots.200023205

[@markallen1982]

@@danielmiller-lionberg5037 Sorry for very slow response. Looks like the DVD Pharoah Sanders Live in San Francisco is still available on Amazon. Unfortunately, at the time, ¾" video was all we could afford. We did record the sound on a professional film tape recorder (Nagra). Also, I do not know how they got hold of it, but someone uploaded one of the totally unedited reels we shot at the Great American Music Hall in 1982 (not 1985) here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoPPmGujnJaWsKM also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipjdn597pdykbqc

[@ForrestGander]

Mark, do you know where he lives now? Didn't he move from Oakland?

[@jxferenge6809]

His Grace Cathedral stuff is the ultimate. Lucky to have been there. I remember an ambulance was coming up the hill and he mimicked it. What an incredible performance.

[@AyoHues]

Jx Hemphill Amazing! Tell us more! When and where was this?

[@jacksonlea6078]

A Hughes That was Branford Marsalis

[@greggdessen]

I remember. Was an otherworldly experience.

[@drewbagelz2432]

Live from an abandoned tunnel, now that's real shit.

[@romainwitz2731]

first time I listen to Pharoah Sanders, first time I experience something like this

[@sampofilms]

Whenever I have a difficult time in life this is one of the videos I come back to. Thank you for posting and thank you Pharoah for being the embodiment of artistic truth.

[@malaikakambon6636]

I'm watching this now... and last week .... and the week before October-November 2024

[@papabibo5]

Rest in peace to a legend, creator of some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

[@Huntington2012ify]

Tremendous demo of circular breathing by the late Pharaoh Sanders, a Master Jazz musician and composer of tenor sax ! John Coltrane knew exactly what he was doing when he selected Sanders as his second voice so to speak!

[@kraftyhandz]

Tears rolling down my face, man. Rest In Peace you beautiful soul. God is proud.

[@JustWanderingAsIDo]

It's just so beautiful. I can't take it. I get emotional when I hear this.

[@maodo-ma-Ngai]

Riiight!!!! Just held my cat and pored out words of love

[@marcelamsss]

Me too! So perfect.

[@cheri238]

Perfection 🥰 💞

[@flowjitsu]

The harmonic resonance is incredible...I thought this was over dubbed on a mixing board when I 1st started watching. Everything Pharoah does is supernatural

[@rafaeljunior4330]

2024 and that sound to me means tenderness, peace.

[@alexschultz742]

I always found it tricky to get absolutely sucked into jazz, Coltrane was cool but just never pulled me in; it was the same with everyone else I listened too. Bill Evans was the closest I ever came to being pulled in, but even that never lasted long. But when I found Pharaoh, things changed. The week I found Pharaoh I blasted through 10 of his albums one after the other with continued relistens in between. I think maybe its his spiritual approach that drags me in, even his more straight free jazz stuff feels accessible and enjoyable.

[@BLDRUNNER81]

The voice of the almighty thru the hands and instrument of man. Celestial beauty in its most sincerity.

[@sadgaytechno]

when he switches from the circular breathing back to the melody oh my god

[@JamesVibe]

That truly was incredible ..... and the way he comes out of it with this beautiful tone.... no one was like him! Such a unique style sound. Above all... he was transcendent !

[@stephenmani8495]

This is deeply spiritual stuff. He is playing to the Gods right here. We are not his audience. But we can eavesdrop if we like, and get a sense of what it is like!

[@graceandgratitude9256]

Ase' Ase' Ase'❤👏🏽❤

[@jeffwilliams6681]

Perfectly said.

[@zvonimirmikic2932]

well said yo

[@onepointeight]

There is God. Without s

[@sonquatsch8585]

@@onepointeight exactly, and pharoah himself would have said he is not playing to god, rather god through him. they always gotta be mixin it up and makin some hocus pocus out of it. they always think they are greater than He. we are not WORTHY to even dont get me started.

[@merlhemlok007]

I remember watching a video of Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra and Syd Barrett in Egypt, the great pyramids, for the summer solstice. It may have been a dream, because I can’t seem to find it anymore. I once met a man who named his daughter Thembi, when I said…beautiful name and my favorite Pharoah Sanders album, he was very impressed a young man knew the origins of his inspiration. We were brethren from other sistren. Blessings and Respect.

[@Kraaaaaaaaaam]

So much love and wonder and grief and melancholy in this piece. ❤️ I love I love I love.

[@troygaspard6732]

He was a master at finding spaces for his music to soar.

[@snowfiresunwind]

Absolutely beautiful. This is what true music does - takes you away from this crap world led by idiots and shows you how life is meant to be.

[@licho17]

might seem abandoned, but we all inhabit that Tunnel, at least everyone in the comments section.

[@user-doomsbirthday]

This video is the best video that exists on the Internet

[@TheNewYear75]

I can very much see Colin Stetson carrying this inspiration

[@cameronhammer8872]

Absolutely beautiful. Tranquil

[@jackgarofalo9339]

RIP to a master of his craft and a spiritual being like no other. Thank you for your original creativity in making the world a better place

[@WRKellogg]

It's August 2024 and I just recommended this to a friend

[@danielcm81]

The most hauntingly beautiful piece of art I've seen/heard yet

[@mistery-ed7900]

During this time of worldwide crisis this is what I return to.

[@Yigit-nw4et]

can you recommend me pieces like these?

[@judah142]

i’ve cried from hearing music only one time before at a church because the lyrics were particularly moving and relatable to me at that time. this is the second time, and i can’t tell if they’re solemn tears or joyful ones, but this is the second time in my life that music has ever made me cry. RIP Pharoah.

[@yladoma]

every time i come back to this video....

[@MrLisaFischer]

It so happens that am listening to this masterpiece on what would have been your 82nd birthday. RIP legend. You have gifted us with your magnificent talent and your music will live forever.

[@brionical2299]

Spirals, so many spirals, spirals everywhere.

[@victorvencedor10]

This is the type of video I simply download. I'm afraid it vanishes from the internet and I never get to watch it again

[@LilituCaprinae]

Absolutely transcending! ❤️ possibly the most beautiful piece of music I've heard

[@customercareskeleton]

What an incredible sound. I'm crying. It took 15 years but this video found me. I'm so glad.

[@washingtondigital6208]

Really like how he uses the tunnels acoustics . very haunting stuff ! and there is circular breathing hear too ! Great tenor player !

[@giannisozo7928]

WOW. Every once and awhile you stumble onto something unexpected and magnificent online. Thank you for sharing!

[@izzygrey2981]

Holy shit

[@curdneptun2207]

so simple, beautiful and profound: a man walking through a tunnel, light at the beginning and at the end, looking for and finding inspiration, floating time ..

[@DAVIEYKE]

Most sacred of things❤

[@ForrestGander]

I'd follow this piper anywhere.

[@maodo-ma-Ngai]

😅

[@Coincidence_Theorist]

15 years later youtube shows me this out yhe blue

[@shinebabyshine.]

Moved me to tears. Venus as boy, for sure.

[@emulsion_]

I finally found the spot. Thanks for having me. I have to work in the morning but I'm gonna dream of here.

[@caistea]

This is the most incredible ten minutes of sound, absolutely transcendent and just so moving.

[@davidguffman]

I truly wouldn't mind dying to this.

[@johnboy898]

shame i only found this after his passing this is wonderful

[@shay5025]

My first exposure to Pharoah, love it

[@edwardbautista146]

Boy that algorithm is something else. No regrets hopping in here

[@CollectionOfTheTimeless]

The algorithm is only learning from you.:)

[@oscaralemanydelgado8062]

This banger straight from heaven

[@ilikeseaslugs]

凄い

[@shanemafumo7291]

Music is beautiful, the world is beautiful, thank you for sharing yo art Pharoah

[@rtotalexvii612]

this is the best thing on youtube

[@moofress]

Hypnotic. I’ve always loved this 🌹

[@leonardochavezsanchez3604]

Imagine you are walking by those trees, and It starts to flow this kind of voice of the human being, oh music, i cant be more thankful

[@hesofrynia]

i come back to this every once in a while

[@Ryedudebrah]

Easily one of the best videos on youtube.

[@snowfoal]

your pfp is cursed

[@pistolerro111]

A journey lifetime long, in a blink of an eye

[@chrishipop5]

I’d cry if I saw this in person

[@vitorkonno9]

Que loucura sinceramente! Que frequência alta! 2024 as 18:10

[@ArchiveofSoutheastAsianMusic]

It is an amazing feeling to find acoustically special structures in the urban environment. Pharoah Sanders and Paul Arslanian found one

[@RUNNOFT71]

I have a KZbin playlist titled "greatest of all time", that is where i have saved this video to.

[@morganhernandez297]

He is one of a kind. Eternal. And the Shruti Box Idea is brilliant !!! I am honoured to say we recorded a song just with voices, acoustic guitars and...a Shruti Box when I didnt know about the existence of this Pharoah S.video💙

[@houskatt8130]

Loving this in 2024🎶🎶 🐱🎧

[@TadRapidly]

I just started playing in this very tunnel. It is awesome.

[@sechoochamakhoalibe625]

Send home with this special

[@astrojazzman]

Pharoah Sanders is a true living legend a master of the tenor...

[@hummingbear88]

I have had the good fortune to hear Pharaoh in person numerous times, from 1965 to ~2005. This unpretentious little recording is one of his best--Pharaoh at his purest.

[@matte8677]

Maybe my favorite thing ever played on the tenor. Makes me cry and has gotten me through some tough times.

[@niekruben]

Between heaven and earth there is Pharoah Sanders

[@flyingfrogofdeath9616]

Rest in peace to one of the greatest musicians of all time. Your presence will be missed - but your music will not; for it will live forever, along with the fond memory of its genius creator.

[@__Qt]

I wonder how it felt standing there listening to this insanely beautiful music irl.

[@HabeebDeenthusiastmusic]

I'd cry my eyes out

[@davepoplin]

10 of the best minutes of my life