Floating Points’ Hollywood Bowl debut was supposed to be quite a bit different from what went down on Wednesday night. When this show was originally planned, legendary tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was supposed to partake in the performance. After all, he was the major player on the album, lending a powerful element to one of 2021’s best albums, Promises.

Unfortunately, Sanders passed away in 2022 after decades of influential work in the jazz world, becoming a particularly crucial figure in the spiritual jazz genre. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t see the live version of his ultimate piece of music; in fact, he was working Sam Shepherd (AKA Floating Points) on the arrangements for the Bowl performance when he passed. However, Shepherd and a who’s-who lineup of musicians were able to make this work come to life under a cool Southern California evening.

The show opened with an eclectic set by the Sun Ra Arkestra. The band wore sparkling outfits that gave a galactic aesthetic that matched the music they turned out on “Outer Space Baby,” “Living in the Space Age” and several of their other celestial-inspired tracks. The first song of their set mixed Funkadelic swagger with jazz fusion, getting the audience on their feet.

After a sax-led song that featured discordant melodies Sun Ra Arkestra slowed it down a bit with a more dissonant song. Next up, an angular, sinister-sounding track that has brass come over the top to add a little chaos. Then, Sun Ra Arkestra took it a little slower with soul-influenced jazz that incorporated a few lounge-y influences.

Floating Points’ Promises has been considered one of the best albums of the decade, even if it’s only a few years in. It combines the prodigious saxophone playing of Sanders, accompanied by intimate classical, live electronic and jazz arrangements by Shepherd. The set was largely a faithful recreation of the album, rarely straying from what was released.

While Pharoah Sanders wasn’t able to join Floating Points, their set was a who’s-who of modern electronic and ambient musicians. The set opened with Shabaka Hutchings of Sons of Kemet who had the unenviable task of filling in for Sanders, doing an incredible job performing the sublime saxophone lines of Promises. The rest of the ensemble was rounded out by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), Dan Snaith (aka Caribou), composers Kara-Lis Coverdale, Lara Serafin and Hinako Omori, as well as Jeffrey Makinson and pianist John Escreet joining Shepherd on stage. The performers didn’t address the crowd throughout the set, instead allowing the gorgeous arrangements do the talking for them. The Bowl was the perfect setting for the performance, both in terms of its complementary natural beauty and legendary acoustics.

The band opened with a twinkling opening number, before announcing in a short tribute that the set was dedicated to Pharoah Sanders. While the opening number bordered on beautiful, the overall theme of the album is something a bit more sinister. The set opened with the album’s first movement, which featured some tenor sax that added to the intensity. Throughout the set the main riff was played, tying everything together. Further into the set, the arrangement juxtaposed a lush instrumental arrangement with sinister synth tones, presenting one of the most dynamic moments of Promises.

After some time exploring some of the thematic textures of the album, in came the dreamlike, slightly sinister main motif that runs throughout the composition. While there are some beautiful moments on the album, it’s always tied back into this handful of notes that bring a subtle sense of foreboding. Promises is one 40-minute-plus composition, divided into nine separate movements. Like on the recorded version, towards the end of the performance, the saxophone disappears from the composition. What we were left with was the stunning main motif, played on a harpsichord over swelling orchestral arrangements.

As Floating Points set closed out, they brought out the big violins, capturing the sense of melancholy and just out of reach hopefulness of the record. The Hollywood Bowl is used to presenting plenty of jazz music, but rarely does it offer up such a unique pairing of modern ambient music and classic jazz musicians like Floating Points and the work of the late Pharoah Sanders.