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Ancient Future — Purple Spirits
(Ancient Future AF-20312, 2026, LP)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-05-05

Purple Spirits Cover art

Ancient Future is one of America’s premier world fusion bands; from the late 70s until 1993’s Asian Fusion they released six albums, then their output of new material began to slow, the next being Planet Passion from 2001. Since that time, their output has mostly been single tracks here and there, although they continued to perform live, as well as their world music education program, and promote new releases by the groups individual members, past and present. It came as a bit of a shock when in 2026 the band released a new album of seven songs, and although some had been released along the way as download singles, it’s good to have these all together on a single LP. Purple Spirits is a collection of instrumental tributes to artists that have historical connections to Ancient Future, and perhaps some that might not be readily obvious, but many current and former members are on hand for this one. Matthew Montfort is the de-facto leader of the ensemble, and he plays on every track, scalloped fretboard guitar, fretless bass, glissentar and drones. The opening track “Punjabi Jhinzaki” — a tribute to the late Zakir Hussain, who played with Ancient Future on the World without Walls album (1990), features Aditya Kalyanpur (tabla), Kai Eckhardt (fretless bass), and George Brooks (saxes), all of whom played with Zakir somewhere along his 73-year timeline. The piece is gentle yet powerful, and gorgeously melodic, precisely what one would expect from these four players. It’s not clear what relationship AF has to Nirvana, but “Spirit of Nirvana” is credited to the three members of Nirvana, arranged by Montfort, who turns in a beautiful guitar solo, and features founding member Benjy Wertheimer on tabla and Mariah Parker on santoor. They also feature on “East of the Sun,” a tribute to multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless (Oregon, Winter Consort, solo), who was an important early influence on AF; McCandless plays oboe on this track. “Tarantas Alap” and “Tres Tarantas Tres” are two solo flamenco pieces by Montfort, somewhat informed by South Indian vina music, the latter piece is dedicated to Montfort’s good friend, the late master flamenco guitarist David Easley, who had a big impact on the development of AF in their early days. The two closing tracks feature the trio of Montfort on glissentar and fretless bass, Bui Huu Nhut on Vietnamese đàn bầu, Abbos Kosimov on Uzbek percussion, and Mariah Parker on keyboards; “Purple Nam” is a short intro prominently featuring guitar and đàn bầu that promptly merges with their version of the late great Jimi Hedrix’s “Purple Haze,” which is certainly as mindblowing as the original.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Zakir Hussein, Ancient Future

More info
http://www.ancient-future.com/purplenirvana.html

 

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