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Revered jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders dead aged 81

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Revered jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders has died peacefully aged 81 surrounded by his loved ones. 

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He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. 

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Pharoah’s representative Anna Sala added his death was a “huge loss for the music world”, telling CNN: “His work influenced many generations of artists.” 

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Prolific Pharoah’s discography includes more than 30 albums dating back to 1965. 

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Born in Arkansas, he collaborated with jazz icons including John Coltrane and in 1988 earned a Grammy for best jazz instrumental performance, group, for his work on ‘Blues for Coltrane – a Tribute to John Coltrane’. 

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His style was so “transcendent” some referred to it as “spiritual jazz”. 

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Born Farrell Sanders in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1940, the saxophonist’s career started in Oakland, California.

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After moving to New York in the 1960s, he started collaborating with Sun Ra, who gave him the name Pharoah, before he joined John Coltrane’s band and played with his fellow saxophonist until John’s death in 1967. 

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Their 2021 album ‘Promises’, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and highly acclaimed, was Pharoah’s first new album in more than a decade. 

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