Warne Marsh
The master craftsman....
Warne Marsh, I think, along with Lucky Thompson and Von Freeman, has been one of the most misunderstood, undecorated, under-respected saxophonists of the last thirty years. It’s a damned shame so little recognition has come to this great man. I think he is a great man. I don’t mean to say that Warne Marsh is a restructuralist in the sense of Coltrane – he isn’t; he’s a stylist from the Lester Young/Lennie Tristano school – but he’s demonstrated an understanding of the music that’s unique.
Mr. Marsh’s music is right in there. And he’s looking only for what he’s looking for, that’s why I like him. He’s not playing somebody else’s music, he’s playing his music. He knows what fascinates him and he does that. That’s what I love. He was never seduced by the image of his music, he was never seduced by the music.
- Anthony Braxton
Along with much of the West Cost Jazz discography, my introduction to Warne Marsh came at the Papa Jazz Record Shoppe in Columbia, South Carolina, where I found this album:
I bought it almost exclusively for the cover. I did recognize West Coast musicians Red Mitchell on bass and Stan Levey on drums; however, I had never heard of Warne Marsh. Music For Prancing was recorded in Hollywood for the Mode Records label in September 1957. Here’s Ad Libido:
This was Warne Marsh’s second session as a leader. The first was Jazz Of Two Cities, released a year earlier. In 1958, he recorded his third, Warne Marsh on the Atlantic label. However, his next album as a leader would not be released until a decade later. During this time, he continued to work on his craft, recording as a sideman from time to time. I think that development is on display in this week’s journey….
Warne Marsh was born in Los Angeles in 1927. He was brought up in an artistic household. His father was Oliver T. Marsh, the famous MGM cinematographer, who worked on Dancing Lady, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, which was also the film debut of Fred Astaire, who played himself.
Marsh recalls, “My mother’s musical through her fingertips. In the ‘20s she played in the string quartets rich Hollywood actors would hire to accompany the premieres of their silent movies.”
Marsh shares this about his youth, “As a 17 year old in LA, I was in a kid band that played for servicemen and young people at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II. My ambition was to become a studio musician. In Hollywood that’s the only way you’re encouraged to think. By 17, I was serious, but what I was offered included no real jazz as a career, if you wanted jazz, you left LA and went to New York. It was quite clear-cut then.”
His job at the Canteen landed him a job at CBS backing Hoagy Carmichael. However, by 19, he was drafted into the Army and sent to the east coast, where he was stationed at Fort Monmouth. While he was there he met trumpeter Don Ferrara, who recommended to him a teacher in Manhattan named Lennie Tristano. In 1947, Marsh started a nine-month study program with Tristano. After he was released from the service, he returned to LA. In 1948 he joined a three month cross-country road trip with Buddy Rich’s first big band. When they got to New York City, he stayed there and resumed studying with Tristano.
Warne Marsh was by far the most loyal and literal of the Tristano collaborators. I use the word collaborators rather than disciples or protégé because so many of Tristano’s students, like Marsh, went on to develop some of their own complementary styles and preferences.
In 1949, at the age of 21, Warne Marsh made his debut with Lee Konitz on the seminal Lennie Tristano Capitol Records sessions, which is covered at length in last week’s leg of our journey.
These sessions put Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz on the map. But I’d like to focus on the music Warne Marsh played outside of the Tristano band, like Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh, which was recorded for Atlantic in June of 1955. They are joined here by another Tristano student, guitarist Billy Bauer.
Here’s Donna Lee from the album with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke laying down a heavy beat:
The following year, in 1956, Marsh recorded Jazz of Two Cities with fellow Tristano students pianist Ronnie Ball and tenorman Ted Brown, along with Ben Tucker on bass and Jeff Morton on drums.
Jazz Of Two Cities was released on the Imperial label.
Imperial was founded in Hollywood in 1947 and concentrated on rhythm and blues and country music, featuring stars Fats Domino and Ricky Nelson. During the 1950s and 1960s, Imperial also released jazz albums by Sonny Criss, Charlie Mariano, Erskine Hawkins, and Harold Land.
Here is Dixie Dilemma from that album:
There are lots of gems on this rare record - well worth your time to give it a listen….
In 1958, Warne Marsh recorded the self-titled Warne Marsh for the Atlantic label. This session was was supervised by Lennie Tristano:
Recorded again with Tristano collaborator Ronnie Ball on piano, this album features the powerhouse rhythm section of Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, and Paul Motian. Here is Excerpt:
About this song, Anthony Braxton says: “There’s a record of Mr. Marsh with Philly Joe Jones, Paul Motian, Paul Chambers, and Ronnie Ball, they’re playing a piece called Excerpt, based on I’ll Remember April, and his solo is out – it’s OUT, OUT, OUT! He could’ve been hung for a solo like that! It’s so inside of the chord changes, he’s really somewhere else. It’s like you know the context so well that you’re free: you’re free because you understand the rules to such a level that you can do anything you want. That’s what freedom is.”
Another seldom heard album I like a lot is Art Pepper’s …The Way It Was!, which features Marsh on tenor dueling with Pepper on alto, reminiscent of Marsh’s playing with Lee Konitz. It was recorded in the late 1950s and 1960, but not released in 1972.
Here’s their take on Lester Young’s song Tickle Toe, recorded for the Contemporary label in November 1956:
Another excellent album in which Marsh was only a sideman is Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre, recorded in May 1959 on the Verve label. This one is a classic, and Marsh’s solos are great.
For example, I really like his playing on When Your Lover Has Gone. He takes the 2nd solo at the 2:24 minute mark, after the Konitz alto solo:
This is a terrific album, again with Tristano collaborator Ted Brown on tenor, along with Bill Evans on piano and the underrated Buddy Clark on bass. Interestingly, Buddy Clark used to gig around a lot in the San Jose area back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was such a nice and jovial guy, who always hung around after gigs and socialized. I have many fine memories watching him walk the bass, like he does so beautifully here.
Jazz From The East Village is a terrific album, recorded at Peter Ind's East Side Manhattan Studio on August 9th 1960.
Here’s a song I like from this album, August In New York, featuring, along with Marsh, Tristano collaborators: Peter Ind on bass, Ronnie Ball on piano, and Bob Minnicuccia on percussion (Brushes on a telephone directory):
Although recorded in August 1961, this album was not released on bassist Peter Ind’s Wave Record label until 1969 (more on Wave Records later).
The 1960s were a lean time for Marsh and it would be a while before he would release another album. However, even in relative obscurity, Warne Marsh continued to develop his craft. This is evident in Ne Plus Ultra, recorded at the Herrick Chapel Lounge in Occidental College in September and October of 1969 for the Revelations Records label:
Here is an incredible solo at the 2:15 minute mark of the song You Stepped Out Of A Dream:
Also in 1969, he recorded Release Record. Send Tape, again for Peter Ind’s Wave Records. From that album here is Coolhouse from that album:
Peter Ind, the bassist on this album, a Tristano collaborator, founded Wave Records in New York in 1961. In 1984, he relocated Wave Records to Hoxton Square in London. At the same time, he opened a jazz club called Bass Clef. Along with jazz, Bass Clef was one of the first clubs to play Latin music in London. DJ John Armstrong took up a 10-year weekly residency there (1984-1994), playing a mix of Afro, zouk, Brazilian beats, Kompa, reggae, dancehall, soul, soca, salsa, afro-cuban, hip hop and jazz. This played a large part in the development and popularity of the Acid Jazz scene that grew in London in the late 1980s, led by DJ legend Gilles Peterson.
Here’s one more for the road. From Chet Baker’s 1985 Blues For A Reason recorded on the Criss Cross label, here is Imagination. When I hear this song, I imagine Warne Marsh, the master craftsman, laboring in relative obscurity, yet completely content in his art.
I think I wore that track out by playing it so much on my record player. This is perhaps Marsh’s swan song.
Warne Marsh never became a financially successful player, with lots of work. This never happened to him, and yet he continued to evolve his music until the very end. Tragically, in 1987 while playing Out Of Nowhere at the Los Angeles club Donte’s, he suffered a heart attack and died on stage. He was 60 years old.
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles into the music of another great and underrated tenorman, Lucky Thompson.
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Until then, keep on walking….
Thanks! And all the great music he made with pianist Sal Mosca.