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Art Pepper
Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue.
Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for his solo skills, and by 1952 he began cutting more intimate and open quartet and quintet sessions under his own name. By this time he had already developed a dependence on alcohol, pills, and heroin that led to an erratic lifestyle and (in 1952) the first of several arrests and incarcerations. For the remainder of the decade, Pepper alternated stretches in prison with bursts of recording activity. Two of these
latter occasions found him teaming productively with what was then the most prominent rhythm section of them all, Miles Davis's rhythm section: Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Jo Jones. This resulted in one of Art Pepper's greatest album Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. He also recorded two successful Blue Note albums with Chet Baker. Pepper was always present when his East Coast colleagues visited the West Coast especially the man he came to admire greatly, John Coltrane. It was Coltrane's example that moved Pepper to become even more direct and searing in his own improvisations.
Yet another arrest in 1961 and the subsequent sentence to San Quentin effectively ended Pepper's career for 15 years. There was a brief stint playing tenor in the Buddy Rich big band in 1968, and a stay in the Synanon drug facility at around that time.
Only by the mid-70s was Pepper able to put his career back on track. It was then that his renewed recording career (in 1975) and first appearances on the East Coast and in Japan ('77) brought him the acclaim of a living legend. There was a sudden general and media interest in his life and his return, which brought new festival invitations and club performances. In 1978 he signed with the Galaxy label which collaboration brought a stream of recordings that included some highly regarded work in which it became clear that years of physical and emotional wear and tear had aged his tone gracefully.
Pepper never fully conquered his demons, even after publication of his brutal autobiography Straight Life in 1979 and subsequent documentary films.
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Late-Period Art Pepper Box Sets
by C. Michael Bailey
In his essay, “Endgame," which opens the liner notes to Art Pepper: The Complete Galaxy Recordings (Galaxy, 1989), music critic Gary Giddens said of Art Pepper's professional comeback: “Pepper's sudden reappearance in 1975 was something of a second coming in musical circles. For the next seven years, his frequent recordings and tours, and the publication in 1979 of the autobiography he and his wife Laurie wrote, Straight Life, transformed him from a gifted altoist who had made ...
read moreArt Pepper: Smack Up
by Richard J Salvucci
There are certain players and recordings that make an indelible first impression. The circumstances usually involve a degree of ignorance: Who is that? What is he (or she) doing? How did this recording escape notice when so many others did not? A very personal reaction to Art Pepper. Urgency. Intensity. Listen to me. Before the name, there was the sound and the piercing tone that can only come out of some dark emotional depth. A listener did not ...
read moreContemporary Records 70th: Art Pepper and Benny Carter
by C. Andrew Hovan
In the pantheon of great jazz record labels, the name Contemporary Records looms large among fans and collectors alike. Akin to their east coast competitor, Blue Note Records, Contemporary was well known for its refined presentations. From the characteristic covers and well-written liner notes to the quality pressings, Lester Koenig's labor of love was home to some of the best musicians on the west coast. In addition, thanks to the engineering skills of Ray DuNann and Howard Holzer, the recorded ...
read moreArt Pepper: Unreleased Art Pepper: Atlanta 1980
by Angelo Leonardi
La serie delle performance inedite di Art Pepper giunge all'11° capitolo e si aggiunge alle altre registrazioni in studio o live (molte dell'etichetta Galaxy), che documentano la fase finale della sua carriera. Anche quest'album doppio è stato curato dalla vedova Laurie che ebbe il merito di sostenere la fragile personalità del marito, consentendogli di esprimere e documentare la sua maiuscola statura artistica. Figlio non voluto di due alcolizzati, la vita di Art Pepper era stata devastata da ...
read moreArt Pepper: Unreleased Art Pepper Volume Eleven: Atlanta
by Peter J. Hoetjes
Laurie Pepper expands upon the legend of her late husband, Art Pepper, with the release of Atlanta. The eleventh edition in her Widow's Taste series of uncovered treasures finds the alto saxophonist at an unspecified jazz club in Atlanta, Georgia, during the spring of 1980. Firmly planted in his comeback era, Pepper found comfort and familiarity in the use of two very different pianists. Although he preferred George Cables, whom he tagged with the moniker “Mr. Beautiful," he was occasionally ...
read moreNotable and Nearly Missed 2020
by C. Michael Bailey
The strange year that was 2020 yielded, reluctantly, re-issued and previously unissued recordings from across the spectrum of music and ain't it fine to have such to consider. The value of such recordings lay in their function in pointing to the musical future we presently inhabit. They fill in the blank spaces between then and now. Art Pepper Atlanta: Unreleased Art Pepper Volume Eleven Widow's Taste 2020 Okay, Okay! The first release ...
read moreStan Kenton and His Orchestra: Concert Kenton
by Jack Bowers
There's no question that Stan Kenton led one of the more successful and popular orchestras of the storied Big Band Era, winning various yearly polls while drawing large crowds to his jazz concerts and dance performances from coast to coast. But Kenton always wanted something more: to enlighten as well as entertain. Music, he felt, should be cerebral as well as visceral. And so he formed the Neophonic Orchestra to play the sort of forward-looking jazz he felt many listeners ...
read moreArt Pepper: Smack Up, 1960
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Recorded over two days in October 1960 for Los Angeles's Contemporary Records, Art Pepper's Smack Up featured six compositions by saxophonists, five of whom had recorded their songs for the label years earlier. It's unclear whether Pepper was compelled to do this by Contemporary or the idea was suggested to him. It's doubtful he came up with the concept on his own. The alto saxophonist was joined by trumpeter Jack Sheldon, pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Jimmy Bond and drummer Frank ...
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Backgrounder: Art Pepper and the Marty Paich 4
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In August 1956, Art Pepper was teamed with Marty Paich on piano, Buddy Clark on bass and Frank Capp on drums on a Hollywood recording session for Tampa Records. The label was founded in Los Angeles a year earlier by Robert Scherman and Irving Shorten, and the album was Pepper's first since 1954 due to time spent in jail for drugs. On The Marty Paich Quartet Featuring Art Pepper, the alto saxophonist plays with a mournful jubilation, sailing up and ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Art Pepper
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Art Pepper's birthday today!
Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for ...
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Backgrounder: The Return of Art Pepper
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
After time in prison in California following a drug bust in 1954, alto saxophonist Art Pepper returned to work in Los Angeles in 1956. The Return of Art Pepper was recorded on August 6, 1956 for Jazz West, a subsidiary of Aladdin Records. The LP was produced by Herb Kimmel, who ran the the Jazz West label. The album, recorded at Capitol Studios in the newly completed Capitol Records Tower on Yucca and Vine Streets in Hollywood, featured Art Pepper ...
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Doc: Art Pepper - Notes From a Jazz Survivor
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Loneliness on the road and the dread of performing live in the early 1950s drove Art Pepper to snort heroin. What followed was a lifelong addiction. As he said regarding his stage anxiety, “I'd get sick to my stomach, and the only way I could handle it was getting loaded." It's hard to believe when you listen to Pepper play that he could be hampered by nerves. Such anxiety was more common than not, not only among jazz musicians under ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Art Pepper
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Art Pepper's birthday today!
Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for ...
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Art Pepper and Warne Marsh
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
There are great jazz musicians. And then there are great pairings of great jazz musicians. Some of these pairings you know, some may be less familiar. A duo in the latter category was West Coast alto saxophonist Art Pepper and New York tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. On the recordings by these two players, you get two artists who personified a cooler, drier sound on the reed instrument. By cooler and drier, I mean smooth, no vibrato, relaxed and behind the ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Art Pepper
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Art Pepper's birthday today!
Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for ...
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'Unreleased Art Pepper Volume Eleven: Atlanta' To Be Released Feb. 19 On Widow's Taste Records
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
On a 1980 tour that he undertook with his working quartet, Art Pepper spent the evening of May 17 electrifying the audience at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of jny: Atlanta. The tour was a quickie affair—his wife and manager, Laurie, barely even noted it on her calendar. She did roll tape, however, and for her efforts, posterity can enjoy his thrilling performance with the band on the double-disc Unreleased Art Pepper Volume Eleven: Atlanta, set for a February 19 release ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Art Pepper
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Art Pepper's birthday today!
Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for ...
read more
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From: Unreleased Art: Vol. 3 CroydenBy Art Pepper
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Art Pepper
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
Born: September 1, 1925
Died: June 15, 1982
