Thanks to Holland`s Criss Cross label for recording tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh, who is, as fellow Lennie Tristano-disciple Lee Konitz once said, one of the purest improvisers jazz has ever produced.
”Star Highs” is the more overtly exciting of these two albums, as Marsh roars through Charlie Parker`s ”Moose the Mooche,” Tristano`s ”Victory Ball” and five more tunes, backed by bassist George Mraz, drummer Mel Lewis and pianist Hank Jones, who responds to Marsh`s urgently linear inventions as though he had been playing with him for years.
Also not to be missed is ”A Ballad Album,” for this program of eight standards (”The Nearness of You,” ”Spring is Here,” ”How High the Moon,” etc.) evokes some of the most subtly meditative work Marsh has ever put on record.
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In fact, with pianist Lou Levy shadowing the leader`s thoughts with an almost eerie empathy, the album finally has the effect of a single work rather than a collection of separate performances, as the mood deepens with every track.