Tim Garland, Geoffrey Keezer, Mezzo, Tim Garland Music ****1/2

Duos come in all shapes and sizes. First of all, this is acoustic music fundamentally, and the spirit of Chick Corea is conjured.

Tim’s an amazing sax player. If I were to list the top 10 English sax players (oh go on) he’s in it [eg that’s something like 1/ Courtney Pine 2/ Andy Sheppard 3/ Dave O’Higgins 4/ Tim Garland 5/ Iain Ballamy 6/ Tony Kofi 7/ Shabaka Hutchings 8/ Evan Parker 9/ Nubya Garcia 10/ Nat Facey].

I don’t really know him. But I did once upon a time interview him in a park of all places I think it was, over in Paddington, in the 1990s along with Don Paterson before Don became very famous in high end literary circles. Don who is also a guitarist is a very acclaimed poet and the two played together in the folky not at all overly parochial Lammas who anticipated the likes of Awen Ensemble in a subsequent wave by several decades.

Last time I heard Tim live was at the Pizza in Soho circa Weather Walker. That was a fantastic gig, one of the best I have witnessed in the last two decades. If interested check out that review above by clicking on the graphic.

Unfortunately I haven’t heard Keezer live. I know his work on record only a bit so I am still getting accustomed to his sound. Talk about being late to the party. He’s now on the bucket list to hear in the flesh especially since copping a load of this. I think the two have delivered an outstanding album in Mezzo.

The pair have extensive history together in Storms/Nocturnes with vibist Joe Locke.

Don’t worry too much about the Mezzo “gimmick” [you gotta have a gimmick after all – but what’s here isn’t at all gimmicky on a crass level] in that the album allows Garland to unleash the mezzo sax which is an instrument few jazzers ever use. It allows a mellow “speak low” quality to the more tender passages especially. It doesn’t burble like the more one dimensional baritone and yet has fewer stylistic possibilities and emotional reach than tenor.

I liked the Satie rendering, Chick classic ‘La Fiesta’ treatment and the Garland originals. It’s quite melancholic but it’s also romantic which relieves any lingering sense of gloom when that relief is needed.

• Mezzo is out in February. The duo that month play London (25th), Liverpool (26th) and Southampton (27th).

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