Consisting mainly of Pharoah Sanders’ most famous song, “The Creator Has a Master Plan”, Karma is the most widely known of the tenor sax giant’s Impulse! albums spanning 1966 to 1973. The song, co-written with vocalist Leon Thomas, is by turns meditative and declamatory, with a long, cyclical form that starts out of tempo, eases into a steady groove (loosely based on the “Acknowledgement” motif from John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme), states a main melody and several countermelodies, bursts into a joyous double-time romp, then repeats the whole process. As a nearly album-length piece, it merits consideration alongside Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz and Coltrane’s Ascension (the latter featuring Sanders). “Colors”, another Sanders-Thomas song, rounds out Karma much more concisely, in a floating and ethereal vein that recalls Coltrane pieces such as “Dear Lord” and “After the Rain”. Karma is pure psychedelic soul, a glorious convergence of Black Power and Flower Power. Its accessible groove is arguably related to some of the work appearing contemporaneously on Creed Taylor’s CTI label, though much harder-edged. Remarkably, Karma was recorded almost the exact same day as In a Silent Way by Miles Davis, and thus was truly a sign of changing times. Featuring James Spaulding on flute, Julius Watkins on French horn and Nat Bettis on percussion, it’s also a key example of Sanders using expanded instrumentation and textures. Pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, drummer Billy Hart and bassists Reggie Workman and Richard Davis complete the line-up, with Ron Carter and Freddie Waits substituting as the rhythm section on “Colors”.