Alina Bzhezhinska, Tony Kofi - Altera Vita (For Pharoah Sanders)
Description
Altera Vita (Alter Life) is a heartfelt tribute to spiritual jazz master Pharoah Sanders, performed by two of his master students; saxophonist Tony Kofi and harpist Alina Bzhezhinska.
Pharoah Sanders’ music has been a part of Tony & Alina’s musical upbringing for as long as they can remember, but their physical paths crossed on a memorable night in 2017 at London’s Barbican Centre, for a night titled ‘ A concert for John & Alice Coltrane’. The night was commemorating the 50th and tenth anniversary of John’s and Alice’s passing.
Pharoah Sanders had worked with both Alice and John Coltrane, and this night served as a spiritual passing of the baton to Tony & Alina, the former heavily influenced by John and the latter by Alice.
The evening was as timeless as the figures honoured, and served as a pivotal moment in both Alina and Tony’s careers.
On September 24th 2022 on the eve of Alina’s HipHarpCollective’s Reflection album launch, the Jazz world mourned the passing of the great Pharoah Sanders. Pharoah’s spirit was definitely present in King’s Place that night, when Kofi and Alina led a moving tribute to the Jazz legend with their rendition of Astral Travelling, which gave goosebumps to many in attendance.
Tony found himself back in the studio soon after this night and composed a very fitting tribute to the master of spiritual jazz- Alter Vita (For Pharoah Sanders), He then enlisted Alina Bzhezhinska whose improvisations helped to provide an elegant call and response between harp and saxophone, delivering a warm and metaphysical send off for one of Jazz music’s greatest composers and saxophonists Pharoah Sanders.
credits
Release date: February 3rd 2023
Format: Digital