Geoffrey Keezer and Tim Garland launch their new album Mezzo at Kings Place [Nick Brown / ECN]

TO the apostrophe-free Kings Place on the canal at King’s Cross to hear the debut of a brand-new musical instrument. Well, not quite new, but a second coming. The mezzo-soprano saxophone – pitched midway between an alto and a soprano – was introduced in the early 1930s by Conn but failed to catch on.

Fast forward almost a century and over in Copenhagen Peter Jessen has resurrected the instrument and hand-made just 20 of them. Number 19 belongs to Tim Garland, who brought this gym-buffed soprano to Hall Two at Kings Place recently.

He was in a duo with American pianist Geoffrey Keezer to launch their album Mezzo, which features the eponymous instrument, with Jessen actually in the audience to hear his creation sing.

It’s a fine record, which some wonderful interplay and a well-chosen repertoire – a fresh-sounding Gnossiene No 1 by Satie (introduced live by Garland playing his tenor inside the piano lid), a plaintive, almost brooding rendition of Cole Porter’s Every Time We Say Goodbye and Out of Towner, a highlight for me, dedicated to the late great Ralph Towner, whom I first heard on an ECM album called Solstice, which also introduced to me to bassist Eberhard Weber and drummer Jon Christensen.

Mezzo kicks off with the wonderfully ebullient La Fiesta, by Chick Corea and important figure in both musicians lives, especially Garland, who toured with him for many years.

So, an intelligent and involving album, then, but having seen them live, it takes on new layers. The record demonstrated the instinctive, uncanny telepathy between two top-of-their game players, but the experience of seeing how they react, the joy on Geoffrey Keezer’s face when Garland shoots off at an unexpected tangent, the physicality of blowing the mezzo as Garland pushes it to its upper limits, the relish with which Keezer approached his solos, was sublime.

It reinforces that old saw – jazz is music that should be experienced live where possible, especially when it involves a substantial amount of in-the-moment improvisation.

Keezer let slip that the duo are at Ronnie Scott’s in the autumn (October 8; see https://timgarland.com/). So, you can still catch them live. Vibraphonist Gary Burton has described Garland/Keezer as “may be the best jazz duet I ever heard”. From the man who gave us the sublime Crystal Silence with Chick Corea, that’s some endorsement.

Sax player Donovan Haffner and pianist Alex Ho [Taylor Hylton]

Two more musicians stripping away the usual rhythm section backdrop to perform duets are sax player Donovan Haffner and pianist Alex Ho.

I have featured Haffner before, since when he has won “Jazz Newcomer of the Year” for 2025 in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and been nominated as “Breakthrough Act” at this year’s Jazz FM Awards (results on April 16 at Koko).

Alex Ho is classically trained but has swung over to jazz, playing at Ronnie Scott’s and touring with Zara McFarlane, among others. The pair met as members of Tomorrow’s Warriors programme, mentored by co-founder Gary Crosby (and, in Haffner’s case, the formidable Binker Golding), and decided to go down the duo route on the new album.

If Garland/Keezer are seasoned pros, then Haffner/Ho are the eager young guns – the music is intense yet melodic, sometimes even yearning (the atmospheric, cinematic Dusk Over Dystopia being a case in point). No fancy new instruments here – Haffner sticks to alto – but a genuine sense of excitement and exploration, played with a confidence that belies their years. Listen and buy on Bandcamp when it comes out at the end of this month.

You can hear the duo delve further into the material (which includes an affecting and effective reworking of Alleviate, the title track of Haffner’s own well-received album) at The Crypt in Camberwell on March 20 (see https://www.jazzlive.co.uk/). Yes, that means a trip to south London and maybe “Here Be Dragons”, but here be some fine jazz too.

If the thought of crossing the river gives you a nosebleed, Haffner plays with his regular band from the Alleviate album at Pizza Express Soho on May 1, which is also highly recommended https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/donovan-haffner

More jazz news and gigs

• Tomorrow’s Warriors recently announced 12 inaugural Patrons for its programme, including Ezra’s Femi Koleoso, pioneering drummer Moses Boyd, author Nick Hornby, songwriter Guy Chambers, Ronnie Scott’s Michael Watt and Robert Elms, broadcaster, author and friend of this column.

In fact, I first met Elms at a Jazz Warriors gig with Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson, Orphy Robinson, Gary Crosby and others in the mid-80s, which was a real blast of fresh air into a rather staid (at the time) jazz community.

I still remember his first words to me: “Are you the bloke who’s got a copy of Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer?” Indeed I was – featuring Milton Nascimento, it was only available as a Portuguese import at the time, so quite rare. OK, it’s not quite Jagger and Richards bonding over obscure blues albums at Dartford Station, but it’ll do.

Tomorrow’s Warriors Patrons [Tomorrows Warriors]

The Jazz Warriors ensemble was one of the key progenitors of Tomorrow’s Warriors and Elms says: “Tomorrow’s Warriors are all our collective hopes for the future; great kids becoming great jazz musicians through a process based on openness, equality and humanity. Each one must teach one.”

It’s always been the jazz credo: pass it on. If you’ve been out to see jazz in London away from the mainstream big names, you have no doubt heard and seen some of its many alumni in action.

Check out https://tomorrowswarriors.org/, which has details of forthcoming concerts featuring past and present students.

One gig over at The Vortex in Dalston features bassist Gary Crosby of TW when, on March 21, he presents Miles in the Sky, a celebration of Mr Davis’s centenary year and the trumpeter’s “Second Great Quintet” (Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams).

The Vortex band includes the great Denys Baptiste on sax and the hugely impressive pianist Andrew McCormack (whom I first saw with Kyle Eastwood, a man who always had the good sense to hire the cream of London’s jazz scene). It should be a cracker for anyone who likes the 60s iteration of Miles before he went electric or is enjoying the recently re-released Live at the Plugged Nickel. Tickets: https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/gary-crosby-quintet-miles-in-the-sky/

One more duet album on my CD player (it’s not all vinyl here, y’know) is The Art of Deep Connection by Alex Wilson (piano) and Omar Ríos Meléndez (guitar). This is a freewheeling and dynamic fusion of jazz, Latin and Flamenco, emotive and explosive – listen to Nomad’s Prayer, inspired by the struggles of itinerants of all kinds everywhere, and there is a dazzling take on that old warhorse Bésame Mucho, recast as a beautiful solo piano piece.

Again, two musicians in enviable harmony and intimate conversation. Out now. Catch them live in the impressive new Upstairs at Ronnie’s space on May 10. https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/alex-wilson-omar-rios-melendez

• I can also recommend Ribbons by Sara Colman (voice) and Rebecca Nash (piano). For some reason I was expecting a kind of Joni-meets-Jazz exercise, but repeated listens have thrown up much more depth than that rather facile (by me) summary.

I love the deft and meaningful contributions of the guests – among them Percy Pursglove on flugel and Iain Ballamy and Trish Clewes separately on tenor – but Rebecca’s piano playing, which can be wonderfully angular and Monkish, is another standout.

Congratulations to Colman for more than holding her own, lyrically and vocally, in such stellar company.

• I also enjoyed a sneak preview the jazz-inflected storytelling on a work-in-progress called Two Pigeons and a Pizza Box by Natasha Seale which, as the title suggests, the tunes can be winningly whimsical, but also powerful and heartfelt, as the singer explores themes related to womanhood and motherhood and the challenges they bring.

There’s a wonderfully intuitive backing band, too – including Jamie McCreadie on guitar and Charlie Pyne on bass – which allows plenty of space for the words and music to breathe. Natasha previews the project at The Pheasantry in Chelsea on March 17. https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/natasha-seale

• There is a brace of new releases featuring Quentin Collins, one of my favourite trumpeters, whom I also first saw playing with Kyle Eastwood. Collins features on Sugar on my Blackbeans by London-based Venezuelan guitarist Aleph Aguiar (apparently they really do put sugar on their beans over there).

There’s really excellent playing from the whole band, with a sound that evokes that Blue Note’s “Blue Bossa” period and the likes of Kenny Dorham and Horace Silver, as well as guitar greats such as Wes Montgomery and Grant Green.

Aguiar is also launching the album at The Pheasantry in the King’s Road on April 22, and it’ll be a corker of a gig. https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/aleph-aguiar

Five-Way Split – From left: Rob Barron, Quentin Collins, Matt Home, Matyas Hofecker and Vasilis Xenopoulos

• Quentin Collins is also a member of Five-Way Split, a bop and post-bop quintet (think Art Blakey, Lee Morgan et al) that has been gigging around the city for a few years now and always presents a punchy live show, especially for those who like a little stretching and blowing over a fluid and relaxed-yet-tight rhythm section.

The new album, Modus Operandi, is a something of a collective triumph, with plenty of thematic dips and twists, and you just know you are in the hands of consummate pros. They too are showing a fondness for jazz-with-carbs as they launch the album at a Pizza Express, this time in Soho on April 27 – see https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/fiveway-split

• I do not, by the way, have any financial stake in the Pizza Express chain – its various venues just seem to be the zeitgeisty place to launch an album at the moment! Next time I’ll be in Brick Lane, swapping American Hots for Bengal Biryanis, perhaps.

But meanwhile let me point you to Jazz in Kentish Town, which has a top rank selection of jazz talent in March. Too much to list here (but the likes of Barry Green, Maddie Coombs, Bim Williams and Josephine Davies) but see https://jazzattheparakeet.com/

• More jazz (Montreux comes to London) on https://robtryan.com