Five-Star Collection... Art Pepper

Art Pepper

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section

One of the great advantages of the disc or tape recording is the special performance by jazzmen who ordinarily could not be heard together. And as one of the most absorbing aspects of jazz itself is individual expression, it can be fascinating to hear the impact of personality upon personality, and to capture permanently, by recording, the result of the impact. That happened Saturday afternoon, January 19, 1957, when altoist Art Pepper met pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, hereinafter (as the lawyers say) referred to as The Rhythm Section.

Pepper, one of the most exciting jazzmen of the 1950s, was known only in what might, for want of a better term, be called a "West Coast context". And The Rhythm Section, Easterners all, had been playing together for the past year and a half with the Miles Davis group. It seemed a provocative and challenging project to bring the two elements together. After the first chorus of the first rehearsal of You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, there was no doubt in anyone's mind the interaction was going to result in some unusually exciting jazz. Things happened fast after that, with everyone coming up with ideas, two new tunes (Waltz Me Blues and Red Pepper Blues) composed and worked out on the spot, and just five hours later this album had been recorded. It is a one shot, unique jazz experience, giving the jazz fan and critic a ringside seat at a completely spontaneous and uninhibited blowing session. (...)

The session itself started off in the worst possible way. Art didn't know about it until the morning of the date. Arrangements were made by Art's wife, Diane, who didn't want him to become tense worrying about it. He hadn't been playing for a couple of weeks; his horn was dried out and the cork in the neck was broken; and he had no idea of what he'd record. To top it all, everyone had been up late the night before and were late in getting started. but after the first rehearsal of You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, everything jelled. As Art says, "I was so inspired by the rhythm section, I forgot the 'adverse' conditions. I'd never played most of the tunes before, and I fell back on the time I spent before the war on the Avenue playing by ear. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it".

About his own playing, Art feels, "In some spots I may sound rough, like I'm squawking, but I finally realized that in playing I've got to play exactly as I feel it. I want the emotion to come out rather than try to make everything perfect. You can’t express your emotions in that way. I believe I'm coming closer to that kind of honest emotion in this album. It's hard to drop all the inhibitions built up over the years, but I’m gradually beginning to free myself".

*Lester Koenig,  April 2, 1957 (from the liner notes)*

At time of writing, this album is exactly one year in release. Why it has not been reviewed until now is quite unfathomable, for it certainly was one of the best jazz albums of last year and probably Pepper's most mature recording to date. The session was held Jan 19, 1957, when Lester Koenig availed himself of the Miles Davis rhythm section, then in Hollywood with the trumpeter to play a local night club.

The altoist and rhythm section are indeed well met in this balanced set of eight tunes ranging from a purely played Imagination to some intriguing three-quarter jazz in Waltz Me. The solos of all concerned are of consistent interest, with Pepper at times reaching heights he’s seldom attained even under most congenial conditions in a club. In Red Pepper, a down-homey blues, Art's Lester Young-like phrasing in his opening chorus clearly shows where the roots lie.

As soloist and comper, Garland is authoritative and original. He can be alternatively strong and delicate, sparely laconic, and rippingly virtuosic. The bass-drums team here is peerless, with Chambers getting off some well-conceived pizzicato and arco solos. Jones' brush chorus in Waltz Me bears endless replaying for its taste and humor.

This memorable meeting deserves a favored place in anybody's collection.

*John A. Tynan (Down Beat, June 12, 1958 [5 stars])*

1 - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

(Cole Porter)

2 - Red Pepper Blues

(Red Garland)

3 - Imagination

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

4 - Waltz Me Blues

(Art Pepper, Paul Chambers)

5 - Straight Life

(Art Pepper)

6 - Jazz Me Blues

(Tom Delaney)

7 - Tin Tin Deo

(Chano Pozo)

8 - Star Eyes

(Gene De Paul, Don Raye)

9 - Birks Works

(Dizzy Gillespie)

10 - The Man I Love

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

Art Pepper (alto sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studios, Los Angeles, California, January 19, 1957