A few years ago, Omnivore Recordings released a series of vinyl albums representing previously unreleased material from the cache of Art Pepper’s estate. This cd (or is it ep?) contains the first volume, which is two stretched out takes of “Red Car” and “Blues For Blanche” from a 1981 gig in Seattle, Washington. Pepper’s band at that time included Milcho Leviev/p, David Williams/b and Carl Burnett/dr and they came to play that night, as they keep the heat burning under Pepper’s feat during the 17 minute “Red Car” where Pepper and his ascerbic alto takes the melody and swings, stretches and screeches it until everything has been squeezed out of it. The nimble bopper “Blues For Blanche” has Pepper going from long tones to double time to no time to beyond time, while Leviev and Williams get a chance to let their wares hang out on the laundry line. Pepper was a proto-bopper, played with his heart on his sleeve. Nothing here seems contrived or mailed in; Pepper played like every note might be his last. You can feel the pulse of the arteries from his neck-he made you want to care.
Omnivore Recordings