The recent passing of Pharoah Sanders may make the sound of his music poignant right now but this somewhat overlooked release from his vast discography makes the important point that ‘the son of Trane’ also made an ecstatically joyful noise on many an occasion.

Cut in 1981, Shukuru reunites him with vocalist Leon Thomas, a key contributor to many of the saxophonist's seminal 1970s works, but rather than go into spiritual mode they get dancefloor-friendly on tracks like the bustling calypso ‘Mas In Brooklyn (Highlife)’ and swing sensually on ‘Jitu’.

That said, there is far mellower material elsewhere, which is an effective reminder of Pharoah's sensitive side, as is heard on a fine reading of ‘Body And Soul.’ While an A-list acoustic quartet performs well, the sound of Bill Henderson's synthesizer is an interesting electric departure.

The Kurzweil 250 brings a degree of string-like softness to the ensemble sound, which may be off-putting to whoever wants to hear the swish of real violins and violas, but there is nonetheless a certain charm in those wafery chords that would not be at all unbecoming for those of us who came to jazz by way of 1980s soul in which electronics featured prominently. Because of the size of Pharoah's catalogue it is easy to dismiss some recordings as ‘lesser’ but Shukuru is one from a relatively un-championed period in his career that stands up far better than many may have thought.