Internationally respected contemporary jazz icons, Tim
Garland and Geoffrey Keezer celebrate their 25 year collaboration with Mezzo, a duo this time round recorded in
one five- hour session in NYC in May 2025.
Drawing from varied influences including 20th Century classical and non-western music the duo continues along similar lines of Storms And Nocturnes, the trio they formed in 2001 with vibraphonist, Joe Locke. The album title refers to a rare soprano sax with only twenty extant in the world. Pitched in the key of G it goes a minor third lower than the normal soprano (presumably) giving it a more alto-like darker tonal timbre.
There is a bountiful cornucopia of material at play here including
four Garland pieces, all drawing from different sources/inspirations. One of which, Out Of Towner, provides a heartfelt tribute to the late
guitarist/pianist/composer, Ralph Towner. Similarly, Keezer’s A Ghost
In The Photograph illustrates a rapid fire interplay between the duo
underscored with a glint of mystery.
The welcome inclusion of four covers score magnificently from
Satie’s Gnossiene No. 1 to Chick
Corea’s (Garland’s longtime employer) La
Fiesta which opens the CD with a lengthy vamp intro resulting in an eight
minute tour de force of fiery Latin elan throughout. This sits alongside a beautifully
poised single take of Cole Porter’s Every
Time We Say Goodbye which shimmers hauntingly in its wistful forlornness.
Mezzo
closes with a Garland composition based on a painting (on the CD cover)
by Esra Kazir Gokcen entitled The Waves
Between. Its poignancy with its reflective and ruminative folk-like melody
brings about a fitting summation and close to this striking, yet intimate and
personable collection. Frank Griffith
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