Album: Iro Haarla Quintet, Vespers (ECM)

Quietly ecstatic, pastoral cosmic jazz from Finnish pianist and harpist Haarla and band, with Trygve Seim on saxophone and Mathias Eick on trumpet.

Alice Coltrane remains a powerful influence but Haarla – muse/partner to the composer Edward Vesala until his death in 1999 – has created a distinctive personal style of gentle ebb and flow. The ticking cymbals of the legendary drummer Jon Christensen are among the many highlights.