Art Pepper + Eleven

Art Pepper | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YIZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,799 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #22 in Music > Jazz > Cool Jazz
  • #40 in Music > Jazz > Modern Postbebop
  • #66 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > General AAS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best "little big band" jazz records ever made., January 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Art Pepper + Eleven (Audio CD)

With Marty Paich arranging, and a gang of top-notch West-coast players backing him up, Art Pepper recorded this stunner in 1959. Incredibly tight, snappy, and playful--and veritably levitating in Paich's trademark walls of cascading harmony-- it sounds as fresh and ebullient as any collection of bebop/cool jazz standards recorded before or since. Art Pepper, though in top form, by no means hogs the stage here: Everybody shines, everybody blends magnificently, and not a single note is flubbed or fudged. A MUST for Art Pepper fans, West Coast fans, and big band fans. In my opinion, it ranks among the top 100 (or at least 200) jazz records of all time.

MAR 14/59- Art Pepper(cl,as,ts)Pete Candoli Jack Sheldon(tp)Bob Enevoldsen(v-tb,ts)Vince Derosa(fhr)Herb Geller(as)Dick Nash(tb)Bill Perkins(ts)Med Flory(bar)Russ Freeman(p)Joe Mondragon(b)Mel Lewis(d)

Tracks: Opus De Funk, Round About Midnight, Walkin Shoes, Airegin

MAR 28/59- Al Porcino(tp)Bud Shank(as) replace Candoli and Geller

Tracks: Groovin High, Shaw Nuff, Donna Lee (Orig Tk), Donna Lee (Tk 1), Anthropology (AP plays cl)

MAY 12/59- Charlie Kennedy(as,ts)Richie Kamuca(ts) replace Shank and Perkins

Tracks: Move, Four Brothers, Walkin (Orig Tk), Walkin (Tk 1), Walkin (Tk 2), Bernie's Tune

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This CD is amazing - I can't stop playing it, October 11, 2002

By 

T. Austin (Van Nuys, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art Pepper + Eleven (Audio CD)

The first time I played this CD I was astounded at the quality of Art Pepper's sound. He is so tight, expressive and dexterous that it is no wonder that Art Pepper placed second behind Charlie Parker in a 1951 "Down beat" magazine poll. He plays so well in the high register that the only other sax players of comparable quality are either Charlie Parker or Stan Getz.

The songs on this album are all covers of modern jazz classics; and I don't use the word "classics" lightly. He covers such jazz masters as: Dizzy, Monk, Rollins Mulligan, Bird and others. I think all of the original artists covered here must of been floored over how well this album came out.

The arranging on this album is masterful. Marty Paich set up an infrastructure that just lets Pepper tear into it. And when he does, you just say "wow!"

Some brand name musicians contribute here such as trumpet player, Jack Sheldon; (Merv Griffin's band leader, and also a former vocalist on the "School house Rock" series), Bill Perkins, Russ Freeman and many more contribute as well.

The liner motes are pretty good though they do label Art Pepper a tenor sax player rather than an alto. That's a huge, unforgivable, error but the history of the CD and the quotes by Marty Paich are thoughtful and nice.

This CD is up there with "The Birth of Cool"! It is that important of a contribution to the art of jazz.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Jazz rules, December 7, 2005

By 

Jazzcat "stef" (Genoa, Italy Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Pepper + Eleven (Audio CD)

This is some spectacular, immortal music. It is surely one of the most stunning and complete examples of the art of Jazz playing, improvising, composing and arranging. So you have the full picture of what the art of modern jazz is all about in one single album. Here you have some of the greatest modern jazz compositions (from Parker's, Gillespie's, Mulligan's etc songbooks), a spectacular arranger in charge (Marty Paich), an incredible soloist, one of the greatest sax player in the history of jazz music and a very tight small-big band roaring. I'd rate this album surely among, not the best 100 jazz albums of all time, but I would rate it among the best 25 for sure. Maybe it could be even in my top ten (and I own 7000 jazz cds at this time). I have listened to this one thousands of times and it has never tired me. It is still one of the best Art Pepper recordings for sure. Probably I am more affected to Surf Ride where he plays magnificiently in combo format, but Plus Eleven is still among his three or four most important albums (Plus rhythmn section, Surf Ride, everything from his fifties period) and one of the most important album in the history of Jazz music. I prefer Art's "Plus Eleven" to "Birth of the cool" from Miles Davis two albums often compared. Plus eleven swings a lot more and it is a lot more hard driven, which for me it's a plus! Buy it and scream with me, "JAZZ"!