ELM is owned and operated by Ellis and Jason Marsalis. The original Homecoming session dates back to 1985 and was released on Spindletop, a Texan label. A spin-off from a successful one-night duo engagement involving Harris and Ellis its reissue takes up the first seven tracks here, the album completed by new recordings teaming Ellis with Batiste, a hot young property on the New Orleans scene, with one of their five tracks supplemented by Stewart and Jason. I've never known quite what to make of the chameleon-like Harris, a tenorist for all (stylistic) seasons. Here he veers towards the free on ‘Ethereal Moments’, the two players moving into abstraction, before he reverts to the conventional with ‘Have You Met Miss Jones’, his high, fluting tone and pure sound supported by Ellis’ boppish platform, and then gets busier on ‘Darn That Dream’. Given this unusual, bare bones situation, Marsalis mostly pursues a quasi-orchestral stance, seldom taking the light or swinging route through these pieces, chording emphatically in Peterson fashion or playing with Garner's delayed beat. This is the sort of music that creeps up on you – each playing revealing further points of interest. Batiste is a true home boy, already creating waves in New York, but happy to dip into every aspect of Crescent City music. His duets with Ellis, all impromptu, vary nicely from the funky and zestful to the more lyrical, the final, languorous blues revealing Ellis’ calmer side as the youngster toys with the melodica.