Recorded and originally released on vinyl in 1986 (a year and a half prior to
Marsh
's death),
Back Home
was reissued on CD by
Criss Cross
in 2001, with three alternate takes and a previously unheard version of
Clifford Brown
's
"Joy Spring."
Together with pianist
Barry Harris
, bassist
David Williams
, and drummer
Albert "Tootie" Heath
, the tenor master and
Tristano
disciple works through a set of tunes that, in true
{|Tristano|}
fashion, are built entirely upon the harmonic foundations of popular standards. The sole exceptions are
{|"Joy Spring"|}
and
{|Tadd Dameron|}
{|"Good Bait."|}
{|Mark Gardner|}
's liner notes wrongly identify
{|"I Got Rhythm"|}
as the source for
{|"Rhythmically Speaking"|}
; the latter is actually derived, oddly enough, from
{|"Little Willie Leaps."|}
On four tracks
{|Marsh|}
is joined by fellow tenorist and
student
{|Jimmy Halperin|}
, age 27 at the time of the recording -- over 30 years
's junior. The two-tenor pairing recalls
's '50s collaborations with
{|Ted Brown|}
.
's peculiar linear logic and behind-the-beat phrasing are the aural equivalent of well-aged scotch, and his rapport with
{|Barry Harris|}
represents a felicitous union of straight
{|bebop|}
and one of its most enigmatic tributaries, the
school. ~ David R. Adler