Both these albums capture the subtleties of tonal inflection, timbral nuance and majestic expressivity of Garbarek’s saxophones in a demanding duo context. Aftenland (which translates as ‘evening-land’), with the classical organist Kjell Johnsen, a highly respected interpreter of church organ music, creates its own space – hints of Messiaen, yes, Milhaud maybe, and hints of jazz, yes, existing in a genre as yet unnamed. In fact, the music – or most of it – began life as a sequence of improvisations for the Edith Rogers production of Ibsen’s Brand, performed at Oslo’s National Theatre in 1978. Atmos, a collaboration under bass virtuoso Miroslav Vitous’ name, brings Garbarek’s sound, stripped to the essence of lyricism and melodic refinement, into even sharper focus. It is albums like Aftenland and Atmos that have provoked some commentators to compare such music to poetry, such is the profundity of Garbarek’s improvisations, where nothing can be added or subtracted since it would destroy the symmetry of the whole. Recorded respectively some 40 and 25 years ago, in the pre-digital age, these albums are very much of the LP era, when music was consumed as-a-thing-in-itself that required concentration. But in the digital age, consuming this music on the go via a smartphone or iPod, with visual distractions when commuting, driving, jogging, or working out would be to miss the whole point of these minor masterpieces.