This concert opened Liverpool International Jazz Festival (LIJF) 2026 hosted by the Capstone Theatre although there is a LIJF Fringe running concurrently featuring primarily local jazz musicians at different venues. Both musicians needed little introduction. Tim Garland has been one of the UK’s finest sax players for many decades and a renowned composer. Geoffrey Keezer born in Wisconsin, a Grammy winner and world class pianist, composer and bandleader. This concert was the second of three in three days the first at King's Place in London on 25 February to launch the album Mezzo. The duo played all tracks from the album which has a splendid front cover designed by Tim’s partner.
Both musicians
draw from modern jazz and classical concert music. Tim played at this concert
his mezzo soprano sax of which he said there were only about 20 in the world, soprano
and tenor sax and effortlessly moved between these instruments sometimes within
the same tune. Whilst after the concert I have listened to the album which was
released on 27 February it was good to hear introductions to each tune which made
the music more meaningful.
Both musicians
are virtuosos on their respective instruments and masters of improvisation. Many
tracks off the album are originals. Others by other artists. La Fiesta is
a Latin jazz tune composed by Chick Corea in whose band Tim played for 17
years. Gnossienne is a jazzy version of Eril Satie’s Gnossienne No 1 and another track on the
album is the jazz standard Every Time We Say Goodbye composed by Cole
Porter. The tune Out of Towner is an homage to the American guitarist
Ralph Towner with whom Tim played for many years and who sadly passed away in
January 2026.
A favourite of
mine from the concert was the track from the album Ghost in a Photograph which
segued into Ralph Towner’s tune Beneath an Evening Sky.
The album is
well worth a listen. A brilliant concert by two amazingly talented musicians
and composers.
The Festival
continues until Sunday 1 March. On Friday David Helbock and Julia Hofer played.
Other artists appearing include on Saturday are Zoe Rahman. Arun Ghosh and
Robert Mitchell’s Little Black Book.
On Sunday there is a solo guitar concert by Martin Taylor and in the evening
the Marius Neset Quartet perform. As part of the Fringe Festival on Saturday at
Commune, Constance Street, Liverpool from 4pm –6pm there is Jazz and Cake with
the Frank Griffith Ensemble. Richard
Morris
Set list: To
the One Who Flies; A Prayer at Winter; Out of Towner; Gnossienne; Daily Avenue;
The Waves Between; Carousel; Ghost in a Photograph/Beneath an Evening Sky, La
Fiesta; Every Tme we Say Goodbye
The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool Hope University Creative Campus, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool L6 1HP www.capstone@hope.ac.uk
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