Art Pepper: Two Previously Unreleased and Outstanding Albums

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

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Published: May 28, 2007

Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr. (1925 - 1982) desired the title of "greatest alto saxophonist in the world. Such an ambition might be considered by the uninitiated to have been either naive or intensely egocentric, for Pepper's contemporaries on the axe included Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges and Paul Desmond. But Pepper had more staying power than any of them, and all the while developed his unique and personal sound. Along with Desmond and Lee Konitz, he was among the few small-combo saxophonists able to sculpt a personal style despite the ubiquity of Parker's influence.

Pepper's solo career can be divided into three main eras. His early period was from 1950 to 1960, when he recorded widely for Savoy, Blue Note and Contemporary. It saw the release of the truly legendary recordings, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section (Contemporary, 1957) and Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics (Contemporary, 1959). Pepper's early tone was cool: dry-ice with impeccable intonation and vibrato. This early period ended with Pepper walking out of the Contemporary recording studio November 25, 1960 (after recording Intensity) and into the beginning of multiple prison stays. It would be 15 years before Pepper would again lead a serious combo in the studio.

Pepper's middle period—roughly 1960 to 1975—was a fallow time characterized by multiple prison and drug rehabilitation stays. His playing was powerfully affected by saxophonist John Coltrane, an influence heard Art Pepper Quartet Live In San Francisco, 1964 (Fresh Sound) and the more recently released Renascence (Galaxy), recorded live in 1975. By this time, Pepper's tone had begun to fray, spilling the corrosive emotion from his horn during the final years of his life.

Pepper's final period was "der Götterdammerung" of the jazz life. After the release of Living Legend (Contemporary, 1975), he emerged reconstructed and impassioned. Living Legend was followed by The Trip (Contemporary, 1976), No Limit (Contemporary, 1977), and the famous first (1977) East Coast recordings at the Village Vanguard. Pepper later left Contemporary for Galaxy Records where he produced his famous Maiden Voyage Sessions (1981) , his strings recording, Winter Moon (1980) and his final duets with his favorite pianist George Cables, Goin' Home (1982) and Tête-à-Tête (1982). Pepper's live performances from the late 1970s until his death were characterized by devastatingly emotional playing. He recorded and performed in an almost exclusively quartet format with musicians with whom he shared a special empathy.

Pepper's widow, Laurie Pepper, has released on her new label, Widow's Taste, two previously unreleased live sets recorded at the end of Pepper's life, including his final performance barely two weeks before his death. More unreleased material is promised to follow. These releases represent significant additions to jazz in general and to Art Pepper's legacy in particular.

Art Pepper
Art Pepper: Unreleased Art, Volume 1 - The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981
Widow's Taste
2006

During his late 1970s renaissance, Pepper was wildly popular in Japan, touring and recording there several times. Much of this work is documented on the 16-CD set Art Pepper - The Complete Galaxy Recordings. Pepper's appearance at Abashiri, Japan in November 1981 would be his last trip there. The recording was made from the soundboard directly to analog cassette tape by a local engineer, chosen by Laurie Pepper to do the job because he proved more reliable than other engineers she encountered. The taping begins with pianist George Cable in mid-solo on the 1979 Pepper original "Landscape. The sound is fractional but clears up nicely, improved further in the digital transfer.

The concert repertoire is very much in keeping with Pepper's book in his late period. The bulk of the pieces were associated with his return to the music scene in 1975. These include the aforementioned "Landscape, 1976's soul jazz workout "Red Car, the recently composed 3/4 blues, "Road Waltz, and the staggering "For Freddie (divided because the recording cassette tape had to be turned over). Pepper did retain older standards in his book including "Besame Mucho, the recently added "Goodbye, and the rarely played (by Pepper) "Body And Soul.

Pepper could slay any ballad and does with "Body and Soul what he consistently had done in the past with "Over The Rainbow, recasting the famous melody in that fragile place between the head and the heart. Pepper remarks on the recording that this performance "was one of the nicest things I ever played in my life. Indeed. Pepper had recorded Monk's "Rhythm-A-Ning as early as 1960, revisiting it many times. Here, Pepper treats it as his own, displaying his splendid eloquence in the bop vernacular. His bop original "Straight Life, hinged here with "Goodbye, represent the most intense performances on the disc. This is surely Pepper heard at his pristine best.

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