Misha Panfilov Septet // Skyways

Estonian composer Misha Panfilov keeps refining his vision of communal, slow-burning transcendence. On Skyways, the septet moves as a single lung, each breath swelling and receding with near-telepathic unity. The A side’s “The Sky for You and I” unfurls in soft focus, all brushed cymbals, vaporous Rhodes, and upright bass gliding like contrails. But it’s the flip side, “Fine and Dandy,” that seals the spell: a patient climb toward weightless release, groove emerging from the mist before evaporating again into air.

Panfilov’s compositions feel like weather systems, formed by invisible forces and guided by trust. This is spiritual jazz without sermon or spectacle, closer to early Pharoah Sanders or Build an Ark than to revivalism, radiant in its restraint. The longer you sit with it, the more it feels like time itself breathing.