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
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
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
represents a felicitous union of straight
bebop
and one of its most enigmatic tributaries, the
school. ~ David R. Adler