Throwback: Pharaoh Sanders-As You Are Featuring Phyllis Hyman

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[youtube id=”qpGx5pIS_zA”] Pharaoh Sanders was criticized for exploring R&B on his 1978 album Love Will Find A Way because it was different from the free jazz sound he helped to pioneer in the ’60’s. As a former member of John Coltrane’s band during his avant-garde jazz period Sanders was expected to adhere to the ideas of a jazz purist. In the 70’s he started playing other styles of music and found himself on Arista Records.  Norman Connors produced Love Will Find A Way and arranged for  an exceptional personnel including Lenny White, Wah-Wah Watson and McKinley Jackson. Phyllis Hyman gave one of her best ever performances on “As You Are” exhibiting another piece in her repetoire of emotional mastery. Love Will Find A Way dismissed any claims of commercial pandering by proving to be an honest step in Sanders’s vision that has held up over time.

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