Cycle

On their ECM album Aftenland, Jan Garbarek and Kjell Johnsen explored the connections between organ and saxophone. Now, Azerbaijan’s two leading jazz performers are presenting a sequel of sorts. In their cosmic game, the organ represents holiness. The saxophone describes our deepest emotions. And the piano binds the two together.

Despite its almost funereal pace, this is an abode of light. If you listen very carefully, you can hear rays of sunlight falling through the windows of the Church of the Saviour in Baku, where the album was recorded.