Martian Heartache is an album by American jazz French horn player and composer Tom Varner

Tom Varner

Tom Varner is an American jazz horn player and composer.Varner studied piano in his youth with Capitola Dickerson of Summit, New Jersey. He holds a B.M...

 recorded in 1996 and released on the Italian Soul Note

Black Saint/Soul Note

Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian jazz independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.-History:...

 label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Chris Kelsey awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This album is one of the finest manifestations of the experimental impulse in jazz to be heard in some time".

Track listing

All compositions and arrangements by Tom Varner except as indicated

1. "Nuke 'em Tony" - 3:02
2. "Keep It Up" - 7:46
3. "Martian Affirmation" - 6:08
4. "Venus with a Syringe" - 3:45
5. "Precarious Dog" - 0:58
6. "Isaac Has a Vision on the Subway" - 6:16
7. "The Quick and the Dead" - 4:39
8. "Send Me a Probe" - 0:50
9. "Tough Luck" - 5:44
10. "Betsy Says Yes" - 1:18
11. "Eva Etc." - 10:09
12. "Anxiety All the Time" - 0:40
13. "Learn Something!" - 5:30
14. "Small Cry Big Laugh" - 11:13
15. "Lady Gay" (Traditional) - 3:24
    • Recorded at Tedesco Studios in New Jersey on March 5 & 6, 1996

Personnel

• Tom Varner
  Tom Varner
  Tom Varner is an American jazz horn player and composer.Varner studied piano in his youth with Capitola Dickerson of Summit, New Jersey. He holds a B.M...
  
   - French horn
• Ed Jackson - alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  
• Ellery Eskelin
  Ellery Eskelin
  Ellery Eskelin American tenor saxophonist. Born in Wichita, Kansas, raised in Baltimore, Maryland from the age of two. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were also musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, California and became a cult figure after his death in the little known...
  
   - tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
  
• Drew Gress
  Drew Gress
  Drew Gress is an American jazz double-bassist and composer born in Trenton, New Jersey, raised in the Philadelphia area, and currently based in New York City.-Biography:...
  
   - bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Tom Rainey
  Tom Rainey
  Thomas "Tom" Rainey is an American drummer.After attending Berklee College of Music he moved to New York in 1979. He has played with American jazz saxophonist and composer Tim Berne, and also with Nels Cline, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, Tom Varner, Drew Gress, Kenny Werner, Mark Helias, and Simon...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Pete McCann - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   (tracks 2, 5 & 11)
• Dominique Eade
  Dominique Eade
  Dominique Eade is an American jazz singer and composer. She lives near Boston and is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.-Discography:Source: Amazon* My Resistance is Low, 1994* The Ruby and the Pearl, 1994...
  
   - vocals (track 15)