Living Legend by Art Pepper (1991-05-03)

The previous reviewer says it all about this album--its surprising combination of competence and freshness despite the alto saxophonist's hiatus removing him not only from the recording studio but from playing altogether (though between San Quentin and Synanon, Art did briefly try to "catch on" by playing Coltrane-inspired tenor saxophone at Shelly's Manne Hole). It's especially good to get the album back after losing my LP version 15 years ago. Originally, it was an "impulse purchase" on my part, motivated by the cover photo of Art wearing a cut-off shirt with a "Texas Lutheran" insignia (a college campus I've visited). On this album Pepper re-traces Martin Luther's own "Lost Soul" and its journey, as portrayed by British playwright John Osborne in "Luther," from the valley of the shadow of death to the salvation awaiting the one whose faith is strong. (Besides the Lord, his supportive wife Laurie deserves equal credit for Art's remarkable resurgence during the last 6-8 years of his life.) I have no idea why Art was wearing a Texas Lutheran shirt, but it's details like this that, like an adventurous and playful jazz solo, can yield surprising results.

For Art Pepper this session must have seemed heaven sent. As if he had spent what seemed a lifetime walking down an abandon road in the middle of nowhere enveloped in 120 degree heat. Finally, at the end of the road stood a man with a pair of drum sticks in one hand and in the other was the biggest, coldest, most freshly squeezed glass of orange juice ever (no pulp)."Suck it down", said Shelly.Whoever came up with the idea of assembling this rhythm section, for Art's release, should receive some sort of an award.

This is one of my favourite Art Pepper sessions. A supple inside-outside rhythm section (Shelly Manne, Hampton Hawes, Charlie Haden - all living legends in their own rights) and Art doing some of his most impassioned and edgy playing on record. The nicely varied programme includes the studio version of Art’s “Ophelia”, which would become a staple of his later live sets, the wrenching “Lost Life”, and fine examples of Art’s favourite styles, jazz-funk (Hawes really was an underrated virtuoso on electric piano), a samba, and a spritely, swinging blues that serves as a nice nod to Pepper’s 1950s style. A fast-moving and life-affirming album that announced a living legend’s rearrival on the scene, then and for all time.

This is a must have for everybody who want to listen to Art Pepper. Very emotional music of this man who had a very hard life.

title says it all--though regrettably no longer alive!

Very Nice

Living Legend. A perfectly chosen title for this 1975 recording of Art Pepper, for a legend he most certainly was, though some would have doubted that he was even alive at the time. Years spent in various prisons (San Quentin the most notorious among them) and at Synanon trying to get his life back in order had kept him well away from the limelight. His last albums as a leader were released way back in 1960, and Art Pepper seemed to have vanished off the bandstand for good, due to his "personal problems", as drug-problems were usually referred to in those days. Record producer Lester Koenig, who had been Pepper's staunchest supporter and backer throughout the 1950's, brought Pepper's career back to life by having him record a comeback album for his 'Contemporary' label. Backed by a brilliant rhythm section of Hampton Hawes (piano), Charlie Haden (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums), Art Pepper's alto is the true star of this brilliant album. The emotion he puts into tunes like "Here's that rainy day", "Ophelia" and especially the unforgettable "Lost Life" is unique and heart-wrenching in all its beauty. Having squandered so many years behind bars and inside the Synanon institute, Pepper played as if every note could be his last, and he gave his all to convey his emotions through his horn while he still had the chance. The track "Lost Life" must rank among one of the most beautiful, most personal and most unforgettable of all jazz-recordings. However much he made a mess of his personal life (read his painfully honest autobiography "Straight Life"), in his music Pepper seemed determined to put all the beauty and love he had so sorely lacked during most of his childhood and during his drug-related lock-ups. The rhythm section almost seem afraid to interfere in what was so obviously a cry straight from the heart, so they carefully choose every accompanying note, leaving the scene clear for Pepper's alto to tell its sad, but beautiful story of a life that had been wasted, were it not for Pepper's exquisite taste and uniquely enchanting sound, which temporarily managed to chase away his demons, as if nothing had ever happened.

OK