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Art Pepper: Live In The USA And Japan
by Chris Mosey
In 1971, alto saxophonist Art Pepper left the Synanon drug rehabilitation center in California. The first thing he did, according to Straight Life (Schirmer Books, 1979), his ironically titled autobiography, was get loaded. He began using heroin again, then cocaine and washed both down with phenomenal amounts of alcohol. He didn't use marijuana, said it made him nervous. What with Synanon and time served in prison for drug offences, Pepper had been off the scene for more ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Blues for the Fisherman
by C. Michael Bailey
Art PepperBlues for the FishermanWidow's Taste2011 Laurie Pepper has been the lightning rod for the music of her late husband, Art Pepper, since the saxophonist's death at 56 in 1982. She took proper control of his musical legacy in 1981 on the advice of the couple's accountant, transferring ownership of the saxophonist's works and contracts to the entity Arthur Pepper Music Inc., where, as intellectual assets, the corpus was protected from ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Blues For The Fisherman
by Greg Simmons
What jumps out of Art Pepper's Blues for the Fisherman is his alto saxophone's boldness and overt expressiveness. If prior exposure has only scratched the surface of Pepper's work--perhaps with the ubiquitous Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (Contemporary, 1957)--this live recording fairly smashes expectations of a polite, cool performance. Recorded in two nights at Ronnie Scott's London jazz club in 1980, Pepper is simply on fire, this set burying any lingering misconceptions that Pepper was just a west coast ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Among Friends
by AAJ Italy Staff
Art Pepper ebbe tre vite: la prima illuminata dal successo e minata dalla tossicodipendenza, la seconda segnata dal carcere, la terza sotto le ali protettive della moglie, eccellente in termini musicali, ma breve per i troppi colpi ricevuti nel fisico. Era uno dei più originali eredi di Parker, la cui sintassi aveva elaborato in modo da renderla compatibile con un'emotività diversa e un timbro particolare che dominava con ineccepibile virtuosismo. Negli anni Settanta incise molto e ci sono dischi da ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Unreleased Art Vol. 5: Stuttgart May 25, 1981
by Chris M. Slawecki
Recorded during a European tour by Pepper's “comeback quartet" with drummer Carl Burnett, bassist Bob Magnusson and pianist Milcho Leviev, Unreleased Art Vol. 5: Stuttgart May 25, 1981 is a genuine labor of love: Not only the performers' love of music but also the devotion of this alto saxophonist's fans, who sent their own recordings of this date to Pepper's widow, Laurie, who turned them over to producer Wayne Peet for remastering and sequencing into this two-disc set.The ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Jazz Showcase, Chicago
by C. Michael Bailey
This 1977 Chicago Art Pepper performance was bootlegged in Spain. As it was stolen to begin with, the saxophonist's widow, Laurie Pepper re-purloined it, releasing it on her independent Widow's Taste label. That is the beauty of today's technology. Historically, this show came in the middle of Pepper's East Coast Tour capping the saxophonist's comeback before his artistic Gotterdammerung that ended with his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1982. This particular tour ended with Pepper's famous stretch at New ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Unreleased Art, Vol V: Stuttgart May 25, 1981
by C. Michael Bailey
Art Pepper Unreleased Art, Vol V: Stuttgart May 25, 1981 Widow's Taste 2010Since 2006, alto saxophonist Art Pepper's discography has grown by a CD of previously unreleased or limited released performances per year. This bounty is due to the diligence of Pepper's widow, Laurie, who has been accumulating material from her own and other private collections and releasing them on her Widow's Taste label. This has proven fortunate for Pepper-ophiles and students ...
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