Only on the 8-minute long sax duet that finishes 5th Piece here is there much interplay between the saxes, but this is far too rambling and unstructured to maintain any musical interest (though it sounds like an impressive technical feat). The other tracks exhibit more structural restraint, though there's a general sense of being "over the top". 1st Piece starts with swirling flute over pizzicato harp-like synth (if synth it is), which after a while is taken over by a multi-sax-forte march. 2nd Piece is all banging drums, over which treated sax wails seemingly randomly to create something that sounds curiously Turkish. (A lighter version of the same treatment turns up on Legend of the Seven Dreams, and lighter still on the title track of Star.) 3rd Piece is literally a repetitive dirge ("in memory of Andrej Tarkowskij"), very slow both in pace and development, all drones and ever-so-gentle sax. Eno would have been proud of this. It's also good music for feeling miserable! 4th Piece is my favourite: a relatively straight sax melody plays over sparse piano that hints at tonal progressions in quite a haunting way. The first 3-4 minutes of 5th Piece completely belies its later wanderings, with some wonderful hearfelt sax over a plucked-string synth sound (a little like an acoustic guitar). 6th Piece is all cymbal crashes and (to my ears) atonal sax, in a big echoey room; a disappointing finish to a decidedly quirky album.
Despite my disparaging remarks above, I do still play All Those Born With Wings from time to time, and still enjoy the experience. Whereas the guitar trilogy makes me think of the sunnier, crispier side of Autumn/Fall, this one is a slightly milder Winter than Aftenland.
Approach with care.
(Go to Jan Garbarek album list)