Once upon a time, saxophone players actually had their own personal sound, and NO ONE had as a fingerprint of a delivery as Art Pepper. His career is lovingly divided by his “pre-incarceraton” cool period of the 50s-60s and his “post-incarceration” material of the late 70s to early 80s. This period had him in a musical and personal renaissance, with these four albums from his days with the Artists House Label possibly his best studio material.
Pepper was not under-recorded during his latter days, but most of it is of concert material, making these albums (So In Love, Artworks, New York Album, Stardust) and their unreleased alternate takes all the more important. Pepper had essentially two quartets at this time in the studio, one with George Cables/p, Charlie Haden/b and Billy Higgins/dr and the other featuring Ron Carter/b, Hank Jones/p and Al Foster. The comparison is fascinating, with the former being a tad more aggressive than the latter, stemming from Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet.
Pepper’s sound is a 70-30 mix of warm and soft along with a dash of experimental assertiveness. Bebop is never far away, with the team sizzling on “A Night In Tunisia” “Straight No Chaser” and “Anthropology.” The most personal moments are when Pepper goes completely unaccompanied on either clarinet or alto sax for riveting interpretations of “My Friend John,” “Art’s Sweet Blues” and “You Go To My Head.” A duet with Carter on “Duo Blues” is a hauntingly gorgeous affair as well. Higgins rides like a wagon train leader during “Donna Lee” and Jones is classy on “Diane” and “So In Love.”
Pepper was striving forward, always looking for new directions and interpretations. He sounds like a man given a new lease on life, and he was musically taking advantage of his second chance. His version here of “Tin Tin Teo” is fascinating to compare to his one 10 years early, as he has more muscle as well as more healed wounds. A musical autobiography, with the last chapters yet to be written at this point. Get this one!!!