Warne Marsh

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Warne Marsh (Amsterdam, 1982)

Warne Marion Marsh (born October 26, 1927 in Los Angeles ; † December 18, 1987 there ) was a stylistically important American jazz saxophonist of the cool jazz era.

Life

After taking piano lessons at the age of 10, Warne Marsh began studying alto saxophone at North Hollywood Junior High School , but soon switched to tenor . On rare occasions he also played the bass clarinet . When he was 15, he was part of a successful youth band, the Hollywood Canteen Kids . During the Second World War , the young musicians made many appearances, also because the adult professional musicians were often drafted and were employed in the army. Warne Marsh was often "featured" as a solo saxophonist at these concerts. In 1944/45 he played with the Teen Agers in a weekly radio show by Hoagy Carmichael . In August 1945 he enrolled at the University of Southern California . In 1946/47 he did two years of military service; he was stationed in Virginia and New Jersey. It was there that he first heard of Lennie Tristano , a blind pianist who lived and taught in New York. He contacted him, received sporadic lessons and played regularly in his group.

For many years, Marsh was frequently in New York to study with his mentor Lennie Tristano. After initial success in bands with Tristano and other Tristano students, after numerous concerts and recordings, Warne withdrew from the public for years, practicing and studying in relative isolation. It was not until 1969, after he had almost been forgotten, that Marsh made recordings under his own name; The album Ne Plus Ultra was created in a quartet . He became known to a larger audience with the band Supersax , played many concerts in different line-ups, toured Europe and spent a long time playing and teaching in Scandinavia, where his playing was more appreciated than in the USA.

After a first heart attack, doctors advised him in vain to refrain from alcohol and drugs and, ideally, to stop playing the saxophone. On December 18, 1987, Warne Marsh died of a second heart attack .

His marriage to Geraldine Elmore in 1964 resulted in two sons, Casey and Jason.

Career as a jazz musician

On March 4, 1949, Warne Marsh was with Tristano for the first time in the studio. The record entitled Crosscurrent with Tristano, Lee Konitz (as), Billy Bauer (guit), Arnold Fishkin (b) and Harold Granowsky (dr) met with enthusiasm and incomprehension. The opposing opinions became even clearer when the Tristano Sextet's Intuition and Digression recordings appeared shortly afterwards . These are mostly pieces in free form, with no specification of melody, harmony, rhythm, basically the first free improvisations (even before the later " Free Jazz ").

Marsh was often in the studio over the next several months, either with Tristano or with Lee Konitz as the band leader. The repertoire usually contained standards with new melodies, e.g. B. Fishin 'Around (Fishkin) over the harmonies of I Never Knew , Marshmallow (Marsh) over Cherokee , Tautology (Konitz) over Idaho or Sound-Lee (again Konitz) over Too Marvelous for Words . Warne Marsh was rarely heard as a soloist in these initial studio recordings; he acted as a "sideman" and was hardly mentioned in the reviews. Even when he became more active as a soloist, he was often in the shadow of his alto saxophone colleague Lee Konitz, who impressed audiences and critics more and was felt to be less “hypothermic” or withdrawn.

Numerous concerts such as B. in the New York club " Birdland " (directly at the opening), in the "Clique", but also at the Newport Jazz Festival and in Carnegie Hall . Until 1952, Warne Marsh appeared exclusively in the Tristano context. The exception was a relatively commercial production in April 1951, with Kai Winding and Billy Taylor ; a 1952 live recording from Toronto with the Tristano Quintet was not released until 1982. The fact that his reviews were never particularly great until then, especially in contrast to the busy and much-praised Lee Konitz, was certainly partly due to Marsh's very reserved character. He has been described as incredibly shy, apparently rarely, if ever, expressing himself with a few laconic words. Sometimes his quiet play with the characteristic procrastinations was met with incomprehension. He then spent a few years in isolation.

Despite its relative isolation, Warne Marsh appeared in Metronome magazine from 1951 to 1953 among the “Saxophonists of the Year” in fourth place, behind Flip Phillips , Lester Young and Stan Getz . However, other Tristano students usually got more press and attention. In 1955 Marsh had withdrawn so far that a letter to the editor in the Metronome almost expressed concern: "Where is Warne Marsh?" Asked a reader from Ohio. Many attributed Marsh's isolation to Lennie Tristano's strong, anti-commercial influence.

In June 1955, thanks to Lee Konitz, Marsh broke his silence and made one of his most important recordings for the record Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh with his long-time colleague . The band again consisted mainly of Tristano fans, the pianist Sal Mosca and the guitarist Billy Bauer. Unusually, however, the drums and bass were occupied by Kenny Clarke and Oscar Pettiford , who were previously not associated with Tristano; contrary to the Tristano habits, a blues was recorded. The album is now considered a cool jazz classic. The excellent and somewhat unusual rhythm section spurred the musicians on to intensive teamwork and improvisations, which, in contrast to earlier recordings, were perceived as "warmer" and enthusiastically received. As a relative novelty there were pieces on the record in which Marsh and Konitz improvised collectively and their trained skills in terms of intuition and counterpoint became clear. The record, which was received with praise by some of the listeners and critics, created a misunderstanding for others: Konitz and Marsh began the Charlie Parker track Donna Lee one beat earlier ("1and" instead of "2and"), leading the melody shifted until they ended exactly after the last phrase with two added eighth notes. This tricky, deliberate variation was sometimes misinterpreted as a mistake, as a “mistake” due to the inability of the musicians.

In August 1955, Marsh finished his studies with Tristano and moved back to Los Angeles. He played various concerts with Lee Konitz in Hollywood and occasionally appeared in a trio with bassist Leroy Vinnegar and various drummers (e.g. Shelly Manne or Frank Butler ). He also worked in a quintet with tenor saxophonist Ted Brown , pianist Ronnie Ball , bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Jeff Morton. It is reported that Marsh was more confident and heard in the foreground than in the context of Lennie Tristano. He also received good and attentive reviews for the first time, which, in contrast to his time in New York, paid tribute to him as a musician instead of as a student of Tristano or as a colleague of Lee Konitz.

In October 1956 Marsh took with the quintet under his name on the record Jazz of Two Cities . With the name he alluded to his places of residence New York (as the city of the most important influences and impressions) and Los Angeles (as the city of his birth and personal development). The critic Nat Hentoff described the playing of the two saxophonists as very imaginative, sensitive, fluent and technically adept. Lennie Tristano praised the album as one of the most original in terms of swing, improvisation, ingenuity. Warne Marsh himself was dissatisfied, however, as the producers did not edit the recordings according to his plan and did not ask for his consent. Shortly afterwards, during another studio recording, not everything went according to plan; the recordings were released together with those of other bands as a double LP under the name Modern Jazz Gallery and marketed as a compilation of important examples of West Coast jazz . The reviews were still very good, although Marsh was hardly discussed as a soloist. Again the innovative, flowing, swinging play and the technical skills of the band were praised, as well as the warmth and power that were less known from the more intellectual Tristano style.

In November 1956, Warne Marsh went into the studio with alto saxophonist Art Pepper . The recordings were not made until 1972 on the record The Way It Was! published, but then received the highest rating in Down Beat magazine . In 1957 there was another studio recording, this time with the two saxophonists Ted Brown and Art Pepper, which appeared in 1958 under the name Free Wheeling . After this last recording of the quintet, the formation played a few more concerts and then broke up; on the one hand because Marsh did not consistently take over the management and was very passive about the organization, on the other hand because of various dissatisfaction within the group.

He then played regularly in New York in the newly opened club "Half Note", mostly together with Lennie Tristano and occasionally with Lee Konitz, while the line-up of drummers and bassists changed; in September 1958 the three were accompanied by Paul Motian and Henry Grimes (radio recording). In February 1959, live recordings were made again in “Half Note”, again with Lee Konitz, and shortly thereafter another studio production: Warne Marsh played as a sideman in Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre , a project with saxophone setting and rhythm section (including Bill Evans on piano) .

Although there was a small group of fans who paid him admiration and respect, there were hardly any opportunities to perform, apart from the occasional concerts with Tristano. Marsh returned to California, where he was able to live more cheaply thanks to financial support from his mother. He spent about nine years there, relatively withdrawn. He occasionally played in sessions, otherwise devoted himself to chess and Scrabble, gave saxophone lessons and occasionally took part-time jobs. A short interim stay in New York resulted in appearances with Tristano and Konitz as well as Sonny Dallas on bass and Nick Stabulas on drums. In 1965 the quintet finally broke up with Tristano, Konitz and Marsh, u. a. because Konitz made too high financial demands in various situations and eventually went his own way. In 1966, Warne Marsh also played the last engagement with his mentor.

In 1968 he recorded the album Thesaurus with the Clare Fischer Big Band in Los Angeles . In 1969 the successful record Ne Plus Ultra was recorded with alto saxophonist Gary Foster , bassist Dave Parlato and drummer John Tirabasso. Marsh was hailed by one critic as one of the great tenorists of his time. The band played concerts in San Francisco , Pasadena , San Fernando Valley and Glendale .

In 1972 Marsh worked first as a substitute, then as a permanent member of the Supersax group , in which Charlie Parker solos for saxophone setting plus trumpet, piano and drums were arranged and performed. The band received a lot of attention; many engagements, tours through Canada, Europe and Japan followed. For the record Supersax Plays Bird the group was awarded a Grammy in 1974 for the "Best Jazz Performance". Due to the success with Supersax , Marsh got more public again, so that he could soon devote himself more intensively to his own projects.

In 1975 he toured Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where there was often a large audience for the Tristano-influenced musicians. Some of the numerous concerts (including with the well-known Danish bass player Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen ) have been recorded. Back in America, more records were made. Warne Marsh gave concerts with Lee Konitz in Chicago and Edmonton (Canada). One of his more famous studio recordings was made in 1977; the LP Warne Out with bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Nick Ceroli .

In 1978 and 1979 Marsh toured Scandinavia with bassist Red Mitchell . In 1980 the two recorded the LP I Remember You together with the Norwegian singer Karin Krog . Warne Marsh now experienced the time of his most frequent engagements; Many other concerts and studio productions in Scandinavia followed, including recordings with the Kenny Drew Trio. In addition to his frequent appearances, Marsh gave courses, workshops and lectures in schools. In New York he continued to play often with Tristano students and supporters. In the 1980s, the successful criss cross jazz albums Star Highs (1982) (with Hank Jones , George Mraz and Mel Lewis ), A Ballad Album (1983) and Blues for a Reason (1984) with Chet Baker .

Warne Marsh died while performing on stage at Donte's Jazz Club in North Hollywood, Los Angeles while performing solo on Out Of Nowhere .

Musical influences

Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster are considered early musical influences of Marsh , later especially Lester Young and of course Lennie Tristano. Marsh met his teacher regularly until his death in 1978, for concerts, recordings and studies. He usually fulfilled his requirements exactly and followed his musical views, often neglecting his own projects or wasted opportunities that Tristano disapproved of and dismissed as commercial. It wasn't until years later that Marsh stated that he was aware of Tristano's excessively strong influence and was trying to escape it. At Tristano's suggestion, Marsh also dealt with Johann Sebastian Bach , Béla Bartók , Arnold Schönberg and Paul Hindemith .

Personal style, improvisational attitude, personality

Marsh's style of playing was characterized by his long, flexible lines, often only separated by short pauses for breath, his melodic, harmonic and rhythmic creativity, his relative freedom from conventions ( licks ), his habit of playing behind the beat . With flexible timing , he stretched his phrases, starting and closing them both metrically and melodically at unusual beats. He was characterized by his very own, airy, "dry" tone with little vibrato , often played more alto saxophone-oriented at the height of his instrument and also very skillfully incorporated the altissimo register. Marsh had a wide range of accentuation options. Sometimes he played "straight" (perhaps based on the music of the Baroque ), in other situations very swinging (rather inspired by Lester Young).

For Marsh, improvisation was a priority in music; As important as exercises and studies were to him, spontaneity had priority in the actual game situation. For him, the composition was behind the improvisation (which is basically the spontaneous composition). Studio recordings did not find his particular interest because they do not focus on the effect for the moment, but for the future. The focus on improvisation basically affected every area of ​​his music: the design of the melody lines, the tone, the timing, the intonation, the interaction with the other musicians. According to him, his wish was to improvise pieces (melody, harmonies, form) in a group without any guidelines. He called this vision or concept "my updated Dixieland". He also wanted to move away from the role of the usual “solo playing”, which in his opinion (even then) was no longer up-to-date, in favor of collective, contrapuntal improvisation.

Warne Marsh's character matched his musical stance in many ways. He was described as shy, reserved and even withdrawn and accordingly "marketed" himself (not at all). For many years his colleagues were mostly given more attention. He seldom took the initiative, hardly planned or organized. Allegedly, he often suffered from anxiety - certainly one of the reasons for his addiction to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines (and Tristano).

Discographic notes

under his own name

  • Jazz of Two Cities ( Imperial Records , 1956); in stereo under the title: Winds of Marsh
  • Music for Prancing ( Mode Records , 1957)
  • Ne Plus Ultra ( Revelation Records , 1970)
  • The Unissued 1975 Copenhagen Studio Recordings (ed. 2014)

as a sideman

collection

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of death according to Bohländer u. a. Reclam's Jazz Guide 1989
personal data
SURNAME Marsh, Warne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marsh, Warne Marion (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California, USA
DATE OF DEATH 18th December 1987
Place of death Los Angeles , North Hollywood