Pharoah Sanders, Floating Point and the LSO

[medjuck]

Review here:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/28/floating-points-pharoah-sanders-lso-promises-review-extraordinary

and it's now on Spotify.  I first heard a cut on KCRW, didn't know what it was and went searching for it. 

[Dub Modal]

I listened to this and it wasn't clicking with me, but I may be an outlier as most things I'm reading are positive. 

[mjazzg]

I love it.

I am a fan of Floating Points but a bigger fan of Pharoah

[Rabshakeh]

I really enjoyed it. A little too polite at times, but I think Sanders' playing is excellent.

[Pim]

Heard good thing about it so it’s on my ‘to listen’ list.

[mjazzg]

It's not Jazz and anyone judging it on that criterion is missing the point, I think.

[Guy Berger]

4 hours ago, mjazzg said:

It's not Jazz and anyone judging it on that criterion is missing the point, I think.

Sanders is like Stan Getz, his sound is so magical it’s worth hearing him in almost any context.

[Д.Д.]

The composition and arrangement are way too cute (Morton Feldman cheesified), but Sanders's playing - as well as the way his gorgeous sound is captured - are excellent. 

[medjuck]

Here's another review:

https://thebluemoment.com/

[jlhoots]

I'll take a chance. Ordered.

[mjazzg]

I read an interesting reference to Harold Budd's 'Pavilion Of Dreams" as a possible precursor to this collaboration.

Just listening to that now, not having done so for a while and I can hear the similarities, although Brown is a bit more foregrounded on it than Pharaoh is on 'Promises'.

I had forgotten how good the Budd is. Again, not Jazz.

Edited March 31, 2021 by mjazzg

[Rabshakeh]

12 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

The composition and arrangement are way too cute (Morton Feldman cheesified), but Sanders's playing - as well as the way his gorgeous sound is captured - are excellent. 

Ha! Great description.

[mjazzg]

I don't hear the Feldman connection

[Joe]

It's all very 2021. I mean its sonic touchstones, Pharoah (mostly) aside. Not a bad thing, mind you. But not nearly the otherworldly escape it may seem to be on first examination.

[Д.Д.]

Judging by how it is taking off on Spotify, this is likely to be Sanders's most popular album - by a wide margin. 

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

I don't hear the Feldman connection

Not even a bit? 

 

[mjazzg]

47 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

Judging by how it is taking off on Spotify, this is likely to be Sanders's most popular album - by a wide margin. 

Not even a bit? 

 

I love the idea of all those Spotify listeners being introduced to Pharoah.

I hear the piano motif is similar but it wasn't enough to make me think of Feldman, not sure it will be from now on either. 

[mjzee]

There's a nice review of this album in today's Wall St Journal.

[Clunky]

I'm impressed by the album. Meditative music for uncertain times. 

 

[mjazzg]

Just now, Clunky said:

I'm impressed by the album. Meditative music for uncertain times. 

 

+1

[JSngry]

On 4/8/2021 at 10:04 PM, mjzee said:

There's a nice review of this album in today's Wall St Journal.

Also one in The New Yorker, as a "Pop Music" review.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/29/pharoah-sanders-takes-on-electronic-music

So, seems to be reaching a diverse audience for probably equally diverse reasons.

Not a bad thing, imo, although...when did Pharoah star playing C-Melody?

[Rabshakeh]

I do find it interesting how much this album has polarised opinions. 

On the one hand, I have read think pieces on how it represents an unacceptable "gentrification" of free jazz, which privileges historical figures that are perceived to have cultural cache whilst ignoring the living music.

On the other hand, there's been adulation on the level of this article: https://4columns.org/holiday-harmony/pharoah-sanders (warning: do not read on a full stomach).

Having listened to it a few times now, I really enjoy it, although I'd have preferred a little more Pharaoh and less of the slightly soupy orchestrations.

[JSngry]

24 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

I do find it interesting how much this album has polarised opinions. 

On the one hand, I have read think pieces on how it represents an unacceptable "gentrification" of free jazz, which privileges historical figures that are perceived to have cultural cache whilst ignoring the living music.

Last I checked, Pharoah Sanders was still alive?

And, you know, what's the point of having a long career if you can't do something with it? What's the desired outcome? Retirement? Obscurity? Death?

The latter is probably preferable to the vulture types who love to "rediscover" dead people so they can claim the cachet of "ownership/curatorship" without the inconvenience of the real person getting in the way., you know, here, let me tell you about the tragic tale of a great talent who died alone and forgotten to all but a handfull, most of whom are also dead now, so, here, let ME tell you all about it.

Hell, I hope that Pharoah lives to be 100, has bigger and bigger hit records, and dies a worldwide, household name.

[Steve Reynolds]

I think it’s boring to an extreme. Nice to hear Sanders get some ink and recognition but I’m much more attuned to more crunchy and invigorating music than this.

[Guy Berger]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

Last I checked, Pharoah Sanders was still alive?

And, you know, what's the point of having a long career if you can't do something with it? What's the desired outcome? Retirement? Obscurity? Death?

The latter is probably preferable to the vulture types who love to "rediscover" dead people so they can claim the cachet of "ownership/curatorship" without the inconvenience of the real person getting in the way., you know, here, let me tell you about the tragic tale of a great talent who died alone and forgotten to all but a handfull, most of whom are also dead now, so, here, let ME tell you all about it.

Hell, I hope that Pharoah lives to be 100, has bigger and bigger hit records, and dies a worldwide, household name.

Amen.

[Rabshakeh]

I didn't mean to suggest Sanders was dead. From his playing on this one he certainly sounds alive.