Art+pepper

For many jazz fans, the high point of Art Pepper’s late-’70s comeback was a fournight stand at New York’s Village Vanguard that was recorded for Contemporary Records and released, at first, as four albums, and later as a nine-CD set. These rangy, sometimes raucous performances with pianist George Cables, bassist George Mraz and drummer Elvin Jones, captured the questing, Coltrane-inflected sound of his later years, while still reflecting the lyric, bop schooled virtuosity of his early work.

This is a true classic. Altoist Art Pepper is joined by an 11-piece band playing Marty Paich arrangements of a dozen jazz standards from the bop and cool jazz era. Trumpeter Jack Sheldon has a few solos, but the focus is very much on the altoist who is in peak form for this period. Throughout, Pepper sounds quite inspired by Paich's charts which feature the band as an active part of the music rather than just in the background. Highlights of this highly enjoyable set include "Move," "Four Brothers," "Shaw Nuff," "Anthropology," and "Donna Lee," but there is not a single throwaway track to be heard. Essential music for all serious jazz collections. This edition add two additional versions of "Walkin'" and one of "Donna Lee" to the original program.

In 1979 Art Pepper was recorded at two sessions that up until now have yielded two fine albums, So In Love and The New York Album. There was more first-rate material recorded in those two sessions than would fit on two LPs so difficult choices had to be made as to what material not to include on the albums released at the time. Those choices were not necessarily made on the basis of the quality of the performances but with respect to such considerations as length and congruence of repertoire within an album…

Altoist Art Pepper, in the midst of a successful comeback, recorded this excellent set (also included in full in his massive Galaxy box set) for Galaxy. With pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Haynes, Pepper performs a definitive version of his intense ballad "Patricia"; other highlights include "Miss Who," "Lover Come Back to Me" and "Chris' Blues." The CD reissue also has a second alternate version of "These Foolish Things".

This recording brings back an obscure session from the long defunct Andex label that was probably recorded around 1956. The emphasis is on Latin jazz with altoist Art Pepper, trumpeter Conte Candoli, tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins, pianist Russ Freeman, bassist Ben Tucker, and drummer Chuck Flores interacting with the percussion of Jack Costanza and Mike Pacheko. With arrangements by Bill Holman, Johnny Mandel, Benny Carter, and Pepper, the music is quite jazz-oriented if a touch lightweight. Worth investigating by fans of the idiom.

This double CD set includes two remastered and outstanding California sessions on one disc. The first disc reproduces a jam recorded in San Diego in March 1975 by the tenor saxophonist Harold Land. The frontline soloists are: the great East Coast trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and the fabulous West Coast saxes of Harold Land, Buddy Collette and Art Pepper; playing tunes such as 'Milestones' and 'Over the Rainbow'. The second disc includes the five titles recorded in concert at the legendary Pasadena Civic Auditorium, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Charlie Parker's death. Obviously, the repertoire was classic tunes performed by Bird ('Groovin' High', 'Donna Lee', 'Ornithology', etc), played here by an All Star quintet featuring Art Pepper on alto sax, Sahib Shihab on baritone sax, Joe Albany on piano, and Harry Babasin on bass.