It's fair to say that even though two tracks from Fabrik are duplicated elsewhere (‘You Gotta Have Freedom’ and ‘Easy to Remember’) on 1982's Pharoah Sanders Live (Theresa) from 1982 (with Walter Booker in for Lundy); or the identical quartet are on Africa (Timeless) from 1987… none of this in any way prepares you for the performance the Sanders quartet let rip that June night in 1980 in Hamburg, and preserved on this album.

This is jazz that brings to mind that old TV advert for Maxell tapes (now on YouTube), in which a chap is depicted listening to a pair of speakers whose power is literally blowing him backwards as he clings on to the arms of his chair for dear life, his hair, his tie blowing backwards as if in front of a very powerful wind machine (which he was, for the advert). It's music that leaps out of the speakers, jumps all over the sofa, knocks all the pictures off the wall and blows the curtains down.

This is John Hicks at his most powerful (and boy, when he did this live, you knew you’d been to some concert), inspired by Sanders whose energy, power and animation would have scared poor old Alice Coltrane. He is in top form, and with Lundy and Mohammed (the latter one of Sanders’ favourite drummers) in the moment with them, this will take some shifting from what already is my top reissue of 2023.

And a tip of the hat to Jazzline/NDR, whose Live at Fabrik series is unearthing some real gems, and in so doing presenting a broader understanding of several artists whom fans thought they knew well.