[4] Upon his arrival, he struggled to make a living and resorted to pawning his horn, working odd jobs, and sleeping on the subway.

[citation needed] In May 1964, Sanders recorded with Paul Bley (these tracks were also released on In The Beginning 1963-1964)[3] and also joined Sun Ra's group, substituting for John Gilmore, who had taken a leave of absence to play with Art Blakey.

[3]) These early recordings provide glimpses of the direction Sanders would pursue once he joined Coltrane's group, and demonstrate his unique, forceful approach to the instrument.

"[9] In September of that year, Sanders entered a studio as a band leader for the first time, and recorded two extended tracks at the loft of audio engineer Jerry Newman using a group featuring bebop-oriented musicians, including trumpeter Stan Foster, pianist Jane Getz, bassist William Bennett, and drummer Marvin Pattillo.

Bernard Stollman, founder of ESP-Disk, recalled having met Sanders at the recording session: "He was extremely shy.

"[10] Reviews of the recording have been mixed, with a number of writers expressing puzzlement over the juxtaposition of Sanders, who "wastes no time blowing his horn apart",[14] playing "some trademark wail and spasmodic multiphonic roar,"[14] with the competent but relatively conservative side musicians selected for the session.

There's an undeniably palpable sensation that this session was a result of an open date on the studio calendar and Sanders just happened to be the most recognizable name, thusly earning the 'leader' title.

AllAboutJazz reviewer Clifford Allen wrote that the disc "though somewhat of an aesthetic anomaly in the ESP catalog and, at the time, given more 'could-have-been' status than it probably deserved, is a crucial workshop puzzle-piece that gives historians of improvised music one very important look at Pharoah Sanders and his young, big ideas.

"[17] A Forced Exposure review stated: "With one foot in mainstream jazz... and the other, tentatively at times, in the avant-garde, this is a fascinating glimpse of Sanders's style before he wielded the unremitting fierceness of his playing with Coltrane and the modal mysticism of his later solo albums on Impulse.