In a time of isolation,music served as amemory for Germani to anchor himself in, a comforting reminder of all the congregations of folks the world so deeply missed and coveted. In this very act of sitting in barren rooms, remembering when they were crowded, the seeds of new songs were planted.
As New York-based saxophonist and composer Jure Pukl enthuses, Doubtless is pretty much a family project/album – an exuberant, high-spirited double-tenor quartet with wife Melissa Aldana plus close friends Joe Sanders (double bass) and Greg Hutchinson (drums).
Elevation, Pharoah Sanders' final album for Impulse!, is a mixed bag. Four of the five cuts were recorded live at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles in September of 1973, and the lone studio track, "Greeting to Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner)," was recorded in the same month at Wally Heider's studio. The live date is fairly cohesive, with beautiful modal piano work from Joe Bonner, Pharoah playing tenor and soprano as well as a myriad of percussion instruments and vocalizing in places, and a percussion and rhythm section that included Michael Carvin on drums, bassist Calvin Hill, and hand drummers John Blue and Lawrence Killian…
A Colorado-based legend, pianist Joe Bonner (joined by an unidentified bassist on two of the six songs) for the first time is heard doubling on electric piano. The music (five originals, including "Primal Scream" and "Ode to Trane," plus Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born") is intense at times and displays Bonner's roots in 1960s-type modal music and his earlier association with Pharoah Sanders.