Pharoah Sanders (b. 1940) is a U.S. jazz saxophonist. Sanders was born on 13th October 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas, under the name Farrell Sanders. He began his professional career playing tenor saxophone in Oakland, California. Sanders moved to New York City in 1962. He received his nickname "Pharoah" from
Sun Ra, with whom Sanders performed. He came to prominence playing with
John Coltrane's band starting in 1965, as Coltrane began experimenting with the music which would soon become known as avant-garde jazz.