Warne Marsh Quartet featuring Lou Levy - A Ballad Album (Criss Cross, 1984)

This post is by Scott and Dan

Warne Marsh (ts); Lou Levy (p); Jesper Lundgaard (b); James Martin (d)

Recorded on April 7, 1983

There are three common problems with ballads: familiarity, prettiness, and pace. These problems often pose difficulties for improvisors seeking to impress with originality and speed, and to avoid prettiness at all costs. The tendency is to include one or two ballads in a jazz album, and few are exclusively devoted to ballads.

Warne Marsh might seem to be the least likely candidate for creating a ballad album, but A Ballad Album is just what it says it is. It succeeds due to Marsh's solutions to the three problems. He makes the familiar unfamiliar; his dry tone does not sound sweet or pretty; and he embraces the slower pace and makes it work in his favor. In fact, he actually slows the pace of "How High the Moon" from its more accustomed role as a rave up for artists like Howard McGhee, Illinois Jacquet or Ella Fitzgerald. 

Most of the tunes are approached in the same way. The familiar melodies are played "somewhat" faithfully (only "Emily" is played note perfect), followed not so much by solos but rather reinventions of the ballad melodies so that the original tunes become unrecognizable. In most cases, the group never returns to the original themes. That said, the listener never loses awareness of the underlying songs, perhaps because they are so familiar.

It helps that the group members are fully subordinate to Marsh's designs for ballads. Only Lou Levy gets much solo space. Jesper Lundgaard gets in three short bass solos, and drummer James Martin has no solos although he works in some fine brushwork behind Levy on "My Romance." 

The rewards for the listener are, quite simply, fascination at the seemingly endless possibilities that familiar tunes offer to a gifted improviser like Marsh. The slower pace also reveals more detail about his variations, which do not seem tied to any particular formula or method. They are spontaneous, relevant, and purely artistic. 

The CD reissue adds additional takes of three songs at the end. Since the original recording was analog (ADD), one might imagine that the LP sounds better. (Dan's vinyl copy sounds great.) The vinyl is still in print and obtainable. A cost-effective option would be to download the lossless digital version, whether you want the bonus tracks or not. Regardless, getting this album in any format should be a priority for anyone captivated by Marsh's music.