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.
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