Record of the Week—>Misha Panfilov “Skyways” (Funk Night) Following the two LPs released last year, Funk Night issue another dose of Misha Panfilov’s septet and their wistful spiritual jazz, coming mere weeks after his ROTW clincher for Ultraääni. Skyways works as a nice counterpoint to the tangled bliss-out of To Blue From Grey In May, which was a tidy encapsulation of his restless, solitary work. That album’s knowing nods to exotica, library, jazz, and analog electronics felt like an extension of Panfilov’s busy brain. But Skyways, and it’s preceding septet releases, are the collaborative, relaxed side of the polymath, the group winding through two side-long tracks that touch upon varying modes of interest along their circular sojourns. Beginning both sides with a simple motif, the septet leisurely ascend toward those fluffy clouds on the album cover through low-lit jazz-funk breaks, modal spirituality and pastoral moments of pure drift, always returning to the track’s origins before spinning off into a new direction. The rhythm section always keeping the score as the piano, sax and Panfilov’s guitar take unhurried solos, contracting and expanding as if by supernatural force, an easygoing affair that aims toward an uplifting psychedelia that is now so instantly recognizable as Panfilov’s incredible vision. How does he keep doing it?