WKCR announces a special broadcast celebrating the 83rd birthday of American saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, broadcast on FM and HD radio and online for 9.33 hours on Friday, October 13, 2023. The broadcast will take place during our jazz shows on Friday: Daybreak Express from 5-8:20 am, Out to Lunch from 12-3 pm, and Jazz Alternatives from 6-9 pm.

One of the premier musicians for free jazz and spiritual jazz, Pharoah Sanders, born Ferrell Lee Sanders, has worked with many giants throughout his career, most notably John Coltrane, while also establishing himself as a prominent bandleader who cohered genres and geographies with the core elements of American jazz. Often producing an artful immersion of traditional Middle Eastern, African, and Asian sounds with his iconic over-blowing and multiphonics, Sanders remains one of the most distinct and expansive sounds in jazz, as seen through his albums “Thembi,” “Wisdom Through Music,” and “Karma,” among many others. Sanders’ impact on music spans decades, as evidenced by the last original release before his passing, a mix of orchestration, electronic production, and his iconic saxophone on his 2021 collaboration with Floating Points, “Promises.” As a saxophonist, Sanders has crafted a virtuosity that transcends the immediate senses– his music is imbued with the ethos of philosophy and religion, always pushing the bounds of what jazz can be.

In celebration of Pharoah Sanders’ birthday, WKCR's broadcast will cover the broad range of recordings he has produced throughout his decades-long career.