Art Pepper: Geneva 1980

"Do not go gentle into the good night," Dylan Thomas wrote that; Art Pepper did it. He did not go gentle. He raged with his horn across continents: Asia, Europe, the Americas. There was gentleness too at times. He raged against his own wasted times. It all fuelled his playing and he was able to deliver powerful and emotionally-charged performances.

Art Pepper with his dissolute, angelic face with Laurie Pepper as his Boswell collecting, remembering, recording, preserving. According to Laurie Pepper's liner notes for the "Geneva 1980" release, Art Pepper was deeply affected by the audience's response during the concert. She wrote about Art's exhilaration turned on by their rowdy, ravenous appreciation which inspired him to perform at his best. The enthusiastic and unexpected packed house energized Pepper, feeding his performance and allowing him to grow throughout the concert.

Art Pepper's sound changed over the course of his life. There was the cool almost Konitz sound of the 1950s, through to the jagged Coltrane influence in the 1960s to the driven, go-for-a-broke, passionate sound of the latter years.

The recording is not perfect but it does render Art Pepper's sound with precise clarity so that we can appreciate both the beauty and the nuances of Art's playing. It also captures the atmosphere of the audience who are keen to express their enjoyment.

Milcho Leviev on piano was the unsung hero of the European tour band. He was not the first choice for Art Pepper, George Cables had that honor. Leviev had come to the States from Bulgaria eith an impressive backstory. He had worked with a Philharmonic Orchestra in Sofia as well as appearing at Montreux. When he eventually moved to the United States he worked with Don Ellis and Billy Cobham.

The Pepper-Leviev combination had its own tensions which sharpened Pepper's work. Laurie Pepper noted that Art Pepper was irritated by the way that Leviev backed Pepper's solos. Leviev was not a conventional jazz pianist. He was a wayward virtuoso and he had his own ideas and his own dynamic rhythms. Pepper frequently asked Leviev "to pretty up." Undoubtedly, the challenges that Leviev offered drove Pepper to greater heights. There are good examples of Leviev's work on the concert. Leviev's solo on "Goodbye" is where he creates a very different mood, completely lacking in sentimentality, from the one that Pepper had established. Leviev's solo on "Mambo Koyama" that is jagged and percussive, and he builds quite slowly the intensity to equal the power that Pepper had created earlier.

The tick-tock rhythm at the start of the twenty-two-minute "Make a List (Make a Wish)" does not prepare for what comes next: a solo teeming with non-stop, unrelenting, assertive ideas. It is a great artist at his best: coherent, committed, soaked with the joy of making jazz.

"Miss Who" is a thinly disguised "Sweet Georgia Brown" and it is played at a fast speed and within the capabilities of drummer Carl Burnett and bassist Tony Dumas. Art Pepper spins out a solo drenched with melodic ideas and intense creativity.

The highlight of the whole album is Art's playing on "Goodbye." The emotions are palpable. It is extraordinary, a great lyrical performance as he drives his searing thoughts through his horn, expressing sadness and desolation. It is a powerful memorable statement.

All who listen to jazz know that there are nights when the playing and the inspiration is mundane and routine. This concert is not like that: the four musicians are at a peak and it is thrilling and rewarding to hear it all.

The last few years of Art Pepper's life were extraordinary. He recorded over forty albums as he coped with his deteriorating physical condition. He was heroic. Laurie Pepper said that he was determined. "He was desperate to make up for the lost years and recognition was important. He knew how good he was. He wanted everyone else to know it."

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