Promises

In 2015 someone from Luaka Bop played Sanders the electronic producer Sam Shepherd's unreleased album Elaenia, and Sanders said he would like to meet him. Over the next five years Shepherd composed Promises, a continuous piece in nine movements for saxophone, strings, keyboards and electronics, built on a seven-note figure that repeats throughout. Sanders recorded his parts in Los Angeles in 2019, with Shepherd there every day; the London Symphony Orchestra's strings were added at AIR in London in 2020, during the pandemic. Shepherd placed a microphone close to Sanders's fingers and mouth to catch the in-between sounds of pads and breath. Julie Mehretu's painting Congress is the cover.

It reached six in Britain and topped the independent chart, was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, and was album of the year for Mojo, Time, Paste and The New York Times. Pitchfork called it a clear late-career masterpiece. It was his last album.