#4479, Pharaoh Sanders and Floating Points
Hear most of “Promises” a new album-length piece by the legendary sax player Pharoah Sanders and electronic musician Floating Points, which also includes the London Symphony Orchestra. Spanning styles and generations, this most unlikely of collaborations took five years to realize and began when Sanders heard Elaenia by Floating Points in a rental car and wanted to work with him.
Sanders is one of the original movers of the “spiritual jazz” world, and was part of John Coltrane’s post- A Love Supreme band. Floating Points is the moniker of English producer, dj, and composer Sam Shepherd, who is known for his deliberate and slow-building music. Promises, which unfolds over nine movements, is absolutely in that wheelhouse with a repeating ascending pattern in the keyboard, gradually adding luminous electronic sound, and more of the London Symphony Orchestra to this gradual-build. All the while, Pharaoh Sanders converses with the repeating riff, in a contemplative, listening sort of way, both vocalizing and playing his horn, until late in the piece when he lets other instruments and layers of sound do the conversing.
Listen to generous portions of Promises, along with music by Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points, on their own. From a collaboration rooted in the traditional Gnawa ritual healing music of Morocco, listen to music by Floating Points and the late Moroccan gimbri player Maalem Mahmoud Guinia (Maalem means “master”). Plus, hear an Egyptian-inspired piece- the title track of Pharoah Sanders’ 1971 record, “Thembi” (which is also the name of his son.) - Caryn Havlik
Program #4479, Pharaoh Sanders and Floating Points (First aired April 1, 2021)
ARTIST: Floating Points
WORK: Nespole [1:10]
RECORDING: Elaenia
SOURCE: Pluto Records / Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com/catalog/elaenia
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 1 [6:24]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 2 [2:31]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 3 [2:32]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 4 [2:32]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 5 [4:25]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Pharoah Sanders
WORK: Thembi [7:00]
RECORDING: Thembi
SOURCE: Reissued by Impulse! Records
INFO: https://ume.lnk.to/ThembiPR
ARTIST: Maalem Mahmoud Guinia & Floating Points
WORK: Mimoun Marhaba [8:13]
RECORDING: Marhaba
SOURCE: Border Community 46BCD / or Eglo EGBC001 on 12” Vinyl
INFO: normanrecords.com OR Download from Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 6 [8:51]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
ARTIST: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
WORK: Promises, Movement 7 [8:39]
RECORDING: Promises
SOURCE: Luaka Bop
INFO: luakabop.com
