That Sounds Like... issue 1

Is it possible that some melodies are so infectious--so right on the zeitgeist--that they aren't written, but rather, captured?
Today in "That Sounds Like," the "TSL" team submits that Bowie's Rebel Rebel Sounds Like Pharoah Sanders's The Gathering . These songs were written an ocean apart, and in different musical solar systems in the early 1970s. In spite of their relative popularity, it strikes me as much more likely that Bowie would be listening to Sanders than vice versa. Bowie notoriously casts a wide net of listening and he plays the saxophone; even so, I don't think I've ever heard about Bowie rolling into all the downtown free jazz clubs.

Synchronicity? Plagiarism? Coincidence?
You be the judge:


Don't be too distracted by the eyepatch. Note the earring as well. This was released in 1974, but was potentially written back in 1973. For a number of reasons it's unlikely that Bowie had ever heard Sanders's The Gathering.



This was released in 1973 on Impulse! Records. If Bowie had written Rebel Rebel in 1973, but didn't release it until 1974, it seems unlikely that this free jazz piece borrows anything from the Thin White Duke. But right around that 10 minute mark...

So we leave it to you loyal listener. One melody that rose up in different places in the early '70s, just like calculus in the 17th Century.