The Avantgarde Mezzo G3

Two consummate pianists beating a pair of concert grand pianos within an inch of their musical lives should generate considerable energy. More than that, the very nature of the instruments means that energy is going to be complex and layered, full of varying attack, redolent with harmonics, yet built on the spacing and placing of individual notes and chords. As always it’s about patterns – patterns painted with musical energy. The Mezzos project that energy, its scale, colour and texture, with unimpeded gusto and an incredibly even output. They go big, they go small and they can switch between the two with the same suddenness that you’ll hear live. But what makes them truly special is that they can project that energy equally well across almost all of their (and almost all of the musically important) bandwidth. The mid and treble horns are proven performers and are, if anything, even more seamless in the Mezzo than the Trio. The execution and integration of the latest ‘Short Basshorn’ (my nomenclature, not Avantgarde’s) is in the same league, a critical consideration if you want genuinely coherent musical (and system) performance.

A single wide-band instrument like a piano (or two) is one kind of acid test. Another is the ability to bind together a group of instruments operating at different frequencies, be that an original instruments baroque ensemble, a full orchestra or a new-wave rock band. There again, maybe you just combine the two? Joe Jackson’s live album, Summer In The City (Intervention Records 2x 180g, IR-018) does just that, Jackson’s piano at the heart of a trio combining his talents with long-time collaborator Graham Maby on bass and Gary Burke on drums. Intervention has done its usual stellar job on the vinyl transfer, aided and abetted by Kevin Gray – and as usual, the bass is deep, fat and weighty. The off-beat tempo of ‘For Your Love’ could easily be dragged back and rendered sluggish by the preponderance of low frequency content (bass guitar, kick drum and the piano’s left hand), especially given the deep, throbbing and repetitive bass guitar line. But instead of weighing things down the way it so often can, the bass had a motive, forward-moving energy and momentum, the Mezzo’s bottom-end picking up on the attack, texture and rolling shape of the guitar’s notes, the repetitive, pulsing, rhythmic pattern. The kick drum and left hand lock together, binding the voice and three instruments into a single musical whole, temporally and spatially contiguous despite the spread of frequencies. The subtlety, timing and placement of Jackson’s piano notes, the shape and emphasis in his phrasing, leave you in no doubt as to his capabilities and classical training. As an album, whether you listen to ‘Fools In Love’ or ‘Mood Indigo’ it demonstrates the Mezzo’s ability to capture both the shape of individual notes or instrumental phrases, but also the even energy spectrum and dynamic resolution that allows even slow-tempo numbers to breathe with a vibrant life and energy. There’s nothing earth-bound in the relaxed and confident playing, nothing earthbound in its reproduction. It’s this effortless ability to capture the nature and scale of each element in the performance, to mirror the pattern and spreading ripples of musical energy that allows the Mezzo to sound so like life.

Nail that tune!

When the band picks up the pace for the familiar ‘The In Crowd’ opening, there’s a natural urgency to the groove, a rhythm that is so secure that the transition into ‘Down To London’ passes without so much as a bump in the road. Sonically it’s a mighty impressive performance: lively, present, plenty of detail and resolution, immediate with startling dynamics. But despite the hi-fi credentials, this is all about the performance that’s happening on that stage. As impressive as the audio qualities are, what’s more impressive is the way the speakers integrate them into a single, coherent whole, suborning them to the musical purpose and goal. Yes, you can dissect their performance, marvel at their separate attributes, but I suspect you’ll be too busy enjoying the music to keep that up for long.