Born on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Ferrell Sanders started on clarinet, then tenor saxophone in high school. Moving to Oakland in 1959, he gained experience with various local bands. The early 1960s found him in New York, playing amongst the avant garde movement, often with Sun Ra who encouraged him to use the name "Pharoah". Playing with Don Cherry and Billy Higgins, he came to the attention of John Coltrane. When Coltrane embraced the avant garde in 1965, Sanders became a member of his regular touring band. After Coltrane's death, Sanders continued to record with Impulse! Records. Through the 1970s and 80s, he recorded and toured with Alice Coltrane, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith and Cecil McBee. In the 1990s and 2000s, Sanders was a fixture at numerous jazz festivals including Melbourne and the Big Chill Festival. He died in Los Angeles in 2022.