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
Afro Classic cover

Afro Classic

Hubert Laws
The Vanishing Earth cover

The Vanishing Earth

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
E2-E4 cover

E2-E4

Manuel Göttsching
Dynamic Maximum Tension cover

Dynamic Maximum Tension

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
Tomorrow’s Harvest cover

Tomorrow’s Harvest

Boards of Canada
Annual Flowers in Color cover

Annual Flowers in Color

Imaginary Softwoods
Separate | Migrate cover

Separate | Migrate

The Kraken Quartet
Aventurine cover

Aventurine

Linda May Han Oh
Verisimilitude cover

Verisimilitude

Tyshawn Sorey