Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Limited Edition – 180G Vinyl)
$40.00
‘ “Promises” was anointed pretty much straight out the gate as a masterpiece. Some bristled at the rush to canonise a record while it was still cooling on the windowsill, but let’s be real here: a new album from legendary 80-year-old musician Pharoah Sanders qualifies for merit alone. Hearing one of the greatest saxophonists on this or any other planet turn in a transcendental performance, patiently pacing before breaking loose with expressive freedom, is all the more a pleasure.
The album is anchored around a recurring seven-note leitmotif, and certainly doesn’t elide a gradual build-up. The first two of “Promises”’ nine movements are sparsely populated, which feels as if you’ve walked into a show ahead of time, as the supporting players are wiggling in their chairs and Sanders is readying himself with soft, low tones. Slowly Sanders begins to speak up — literally for a spell on ‘Movement 4’ — as the London Symphony Orchestra arcs and winds around his cyclical exhalations. By the album’s second half the intensity has demonstrably ramped up, as Sanders goes for broke and Shepherd hammers down on the organ. The dams have broken and the effect is riveting.
The debut collaboration LP from electronic musician Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points and legendary saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders, backed to a lavish fullness by The London Symphony Orchestra, feels like the murmurs of an entirely new language for jazz, quite distinct from either participant’s prior output — in fact, it seems to illuminate a hidden lexicon we didn’t know either artist had in the first place.
We say jazz, but Promises truly defies categorisation with its moody atmosphere and indeterminate music-like patience. The nine movements of the LP gently cradle a circular note pattern in the way of a minimalist classical piece, as a flood of synth and string drones gradually fill the empty spaces in-between. As this deep meditation progresses, Sanders recalls his adventurous past work with the Coltranes by undergoing his own inner journey, his sax flitting between conversational licks, esoteric mouth sounds and white-hot fury, bobbing against the rising tide of electronics, organs and orchestra swells.’
LP / Luaka Bop / 180G Gatefold, Die-Cut Jacket with Insert
Cat. No. LBOP0097180
Availability: In stock
