Search - Warne Marsh Quartet, Joe Albany :: Live at Dana Point, 1957

Perhaps for Warne Marsh fans only?

BebopBoomer | Virginia | 03/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not aware of any tenor player who sounds like Warne Marsh,and there surely were none back in 1957 when this was recorded. Almost all sax players have a sound which is more or less internally consistent, but Marsh's seems to be made up of three or four quite different ones. Sometimes it's big and full; at other times,thin and dry as smoke. In the upper register and the high harmonics beyond it (which he handles with amazing mastery, far beyond that of many far more celebrated players) he gets a clear,bright,unforced alto-like sound. And finally, there's a kind of splintered gargle (think Lester Young playing a hookah...), which description might make it sound awful,which it definitely does not,as he employs it. This enormous tonal variety is accentuated by his penchant for rapidly alternating from loud to soft and in-between,sometimes every two or three bars and at any and all tempos. Though he seems far more interested in the linear elaboration of harmony than in melody,nevertheless his improvisations are full of surprising and thrilling twists and turns. These traits, plus his rhythmic agility (he swings!) make him, IMHO, far more interesting and enjoyable than his fellow Tristano disciple Lee Konitz.



This recording contains some very fine playing by the young Warne Marsh. In addition,the fact that he's playing standards (and Charlie Parker) makes the utter originality of his harmonic/melodic approach stand out more clearly than it would if he confined himself to those rather monotonous Tristano-school "originals". The sound is,all things considering,pretty good,certainly good enough for anybody whose primary interest is in the music itself rather than in sound reproduction per se.



The problems lie in two areas:the place where the recording was made and the other musicians. There's a good bass player. The drummer is adequate so long as he confines himself to basic time-keeping and not so hot when he tries anything more. And the pianist, otherwise unknown to me, is an enigma. At times he plays very well indeed; at others his sense of time and/or his technique let him down pretty badly.



As for where the recording was made, anybody buying this should be aware that Marsh and company are playing in a nightclub where a number of the patrons yak loudly and inanely and incessantly; it's painful to hear the utter lack of respect for the musicians. If you are the kind of person driven nuts by this sort of thing, you should definitely not buy this CD. I found it barely tolerable and often very distracting, especially given Marsh's above-noted tendency to play very softly at times,not just on ballads but also at medium and up tempos."

Genius revealed....

Tybone | Oslo,CA USA | 10/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has to be some of Warne's most inspired work ever captured.

His sound is absolutely beautiful troughout these 2 sides,and the ideas keep popping out fresh, and never before heard (and swinging to!). The piano player is a character,a little crazy, but warne seemes to respect him a lot. A gem!"