Promises cover
Released

Pharoah Sanders’ final recording was this collaboration with UK-based electronic musician/composer Floating Points. It’s a meditative nine-track suite built around a simple seven-note figure, repeated with minimal variation for 46 minutes. Other elements come in and out — Sanders’ horn, his voice (he mumble-sings a short and surprisingly heartfelt passage in the fourth movement), and the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra — but nothing ever breaks the soothing, meditative mood. Occasionally, the synths nod to mid ’70s Pink Floyd, or to ambient electronic music (the Orb et al.). Those seeking the fire ’n’ fury of Sanders’ work with John Coltrane will be highly disappointed; those seeking beauty will be richly rewarded.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Arborescence cover

Arborescence

Aaron Parks
Moondawn cover

Moondawn

Klaus Schulze
Mirror Guide cover

Mirror Guide

Giant Claw
Ecstatic Computation cover

Ecstatic Computation

Caterina Barbieri
E2-E4 cover

E2-E4

Manuel Göttsching
Sunflower cover

Sunflower

Milt Jackson
Irreversible Entanglements cover

Irreversible Entanglements

Irreversible Entanglements
Remembrance cover

Remembrance

John Patitucci
Since Time Is Gravity  cover

Since Time Is Gravity

Natural Information Society
Skinned cover

Skinned

ML Buch