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Renowned saxophonist Pharoah Sanders first rose to fame in the '60s after joining the Sun Ra Arkestra and John Coltrane's later ensembles. An essential component of free jazz's early days, Sanders was first recognized for his notoriously aggressive and huge tenor sound. Without losing any of his raw power Sanders quickly began to further expand upon and refine his craft into a more patient, melodic, and spiritually peaceful sound, working a unique beauty into the psychedelic spaciousness of Sun Ra, alongside the improvisational chops and compositional courage of contemporaries like John and Alice Coltrane.
Sanders' eleven Impulse albums - from 1967's Tauhid to 1974's Love In Us All - stand among the label's finest runs. 1969 found Sanders and Co. at their peak working at a feverish pace and recording no less than four albums in that calendar year alone including the dynamic Jewels of Thought. Comprised of the two percussion-heavy side-long numbers "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah" and "Sun In Aquarius," Sanders experiments with reed flutes and bass clarinet for the first time here, all the while juxtaposing charming melodies with some high flying musicianship.