Laurie Pepper, widow of legendary alto saxist Art Pepper, has been doing a remarkable job keeping the artists name in the jazz scene with an impressive collection of previously released live recordings. The The latest cache is quite clever; it consists of 3 old fashioned record albums of different colors which include a link to download the music for those that don’t have a record player. (are there any of you out there?) All of the material here comes from a 1981 concert at Parnell’s, in Seattle, WA, in which Art and his band of Milcho Leviev/p, David Williams/b and Carl Burnett/dr are in prime and vintage form. You’ve got two songs here, “ Red Car” and “Blues For Blanche,” both of which clock in at around 17 minutes, so everyone gets to stretch out a bit. Pepper’s alto on the bopping first song has him baring his heart on his sleeve, as he hits the entire sonic and emotional range of the horn, while on the latter, a shuffling blues, he explores every nuance that can even possibly come to light. Leviev has some impressive piano work on the blues, while the rhythm team shows itself to be able to create crests of intensity yet still be flexible enough to stop on a dime. Music that doesn’t sound dated at all 30+ years later.
Widow’s Taste Records