Customer Reviews

Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor

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Art Pepper's torturous life story is told by the man himself and the woman who saved his life. This video not only presents his story but a few amazing performances which find Pepper squeezing every bit of soul into his horn. Riveting viewing and a treasure for the live bits.

This work was made in 1982 which was the time of Mr Pepper's post smack post prison renaissance documented musically on the wonderful 16CD Galaxy Box Set issued c1990. Although the film is only 42 minutes plus credits there is nothing superfluous on it and for a music lover, the live performance of PATRICIA is worth the price of the DVD. But Mr Pepper is also an articulate, honest individual and the viewer is made privy to his bedroom, his dreams, origin and meaning of his tats, his eating habits, upbringing, and prison experience et al. I've never tired of his music and this DVD is a complementary and essential document for one of the most expressive, talented musicians of the last century. He says in the film: "I'm a genius. I don't know anyone who can play the alto better than I can at this moment." The amazing thing is, I didn't wince when he said this. He may have been right. He was also quite a funny guy with a self-deprecating wit.

After seeing this poignant and moving video about the torture and genius of a true jazz great, I had to make a comment.Having followed his music since the days of Stan Kenton, it's wonderful to be able to retain a little piec of his music on video. This should be in every jazz fan's library.

I came to like Art Pepper later in my musical journey. I was always more of a trumpet fan, having only come to appreciate the saxophone after hearing John Coletrane or Cannonball Adderly play on Miles Davis records. Point is, I was never a huge fan of the sax. But in 2001 I stumbled upon a cd in a library, "Art Pepper Thursday Night At The Village Vanguard" and it sounded so real, so raw, and yet so polished that it actually PUTS you in the legendary club for the gig. You can almost smell the cigarette smoke, the booze, hear and feel the people around you, pressing in to take in the live jazz, done by a genius. I then purchased the rest of the cd series, "Friday Night", "Saturday Night" and "More For Les". These Art Pepper discs contain masterful playing, captured at a peak of sorts with a rhythm section that put the songs first, not the solos.

Needless to say, when this Art Pepper DVD came out, I had to have a look. It is a very sober interview with a man who has had many un-sober days, and he tackles the tough questions head-on. From telling how it felt to do heroin for the first time, for the thirtieth time, to his experience with de-tox and withdrawal agony in a cell in prison, to finally meeting his daughter and writing a song for her even though his gestures were never re-ciprocated, this is a painful, intimate look at the man, the music, the mess and the mystique of jazz. It really puts you there with him for an hour or so, both playing and telling you about it. If you like the "feel" of jazz, of blues, this delivers a good short dose of it. Get this, dim the lights, and enjoy! --mf

This is a wonderful memory of a battered genius that was able to come back one more time and make an unequaled contribution to the jazz world.

This is a wonderful memory of a battered genius that was able to come back one more time and make an unequaled contribution to the jazz world.

Art Pepper is, in my opinion, the greatest jazz alto saxophone player ever. Pepper was a truly gifted musician who managed to allow drugs to rule his world for a very long period of time. Following four stints in prison he entered the half-way house, Synanon, where he met Laurie, the woman who would become his wife and save his life. Together, they wrote his autobiography, Straight Life. The book, like this film, is brutally honest.
In this film, Art Pepper speaks of his love for his daughter, Patricia, for whom he wrote a beautiful song, and her rejection of him. Like his book, Pepper is self-deprecating, hence the brutal honesty I speak of. He does, however, also speak honestly of his being the best alto player. Charlie "Bird" Parker was already dead during this time, but one only needs to compare their recorded performances. Clearly, Pepper's tone and lyrical quality (his melodic improvisational abilities) are unsurpassed and unmatched by anyone before or after him. He was a genius who suffered long periods of exceptionally poor judgement. Laurie Pepper changed that and, because of her primarily, we are now blessed with a very large discography of his recordings. Recordings which, like his playing in this film, demonstrate to all his exceptional talent and, in short, musical genius. If you like bebop and particularly West Coast Jazz, having this beautiful film is a must.

I just saw this film for the first time. I'm still stunned. It's difficult to choose only a few superior movies to compare it to. It has elements of the wonderful Paris Texas, and certainly resonates of Bird and Round Midnight. That it is a "true story" and a documentary is, at times, beside the point. The love story between Art and Laurie is so incredibly well told, with such refreshing absence of schmaltz. The very end, when they're sitting and listening to "Our Song," one of the tunes Art wrote for Laurie. Art and Laurie are as real in this film as any two human beings you will ever see, in or out of a media setting. The piece is even more haunting when you realize that Art will die in about a year from the time it's being filmed.

As Art might say, if you don't dig this flick, man, then you don't get anything, what can I say? A wonderful piece of art about a great, tortured American artist who deserves comparison to Vincent van Gogh.

I suspect Laurie had a lot with getting this film made. Thanks Laurie, for the film and for giving us that final, best version of Art.

Jeff Huber

Not for all tastes, but I don't recall a film that has succeeded so well in making a musician's demons, struggles, and triumphs so clear and understandable. It helped bring Pepper's tormented psyche, his creative consciousness, into sharper focus for this viewer than any of his numerous recordings. A simple, straightforward film, it makes almost palpable Kracauer's definition of film as the "redemption of physical reality."

Not only does Pepper lunge and jab like a prize fighter, but he talks like an unschooled street gang-banger, words like "kill" coming readily to his lips along with statements of self-grandiosity: "I'm a genius," "the greatest that ever lived," etc. We hear him discuss his making contact with his estranged daughter after 20 plus years. She's apparently repulsed by his reaching out, especially after reading his sordid autobiography, and calls him some unflattering names, at which point Pepper adopts a predictably defensive posture: "S.... her. If that's how she feels about me, I don't want to have anything to do with her."

Then toward the end of this comparatively short film Pepper takes his shirt off. The scene is at once shocking and revelatory. The man has harbored a lot of demons, hurts, humiliations and resentments--deformities festering not only in his consciousness but literally, as only the movie lens can disclose, under his shirt.

But he's also been given the courage to discover and proclaim his self-worth, thanks in great part to the unconditional respect, appreciation and love of his life-partner, Laurie. Somewhat like Sue's efforts on behalf of her late husband, the brilliant bassist Charles Mingus, Laurie followed Art in his latter-day travels with a tape recorder, ready to document each precious note while contributing to her husband's creation of a discography that would be impressive even for a musician devoting his complete attention to such a project. But Pepper, a desperate addict, was forced to contend with lengthy stretches of surviving (barely) in the streets and in prisons.

"Art Pepper: Notes of a Jazz Survivor" offers, like Jame Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," a penetrating insight into the life of a jazz musician before the age of musical conservatories with jazz departments. Its images provide an unexpected aid to understanding the unwritten language of emotion that accompanies the performer's musical notes. Neither are languages that can be notated, but this film is surprisingly successful in illuminating the discourses of music and emotion, along with the inseparable, organic relation between them.

"Notes of a Jazz Survivor" offers not only the record of a jazz musician's challenges but a personification, or humanization, of the artist's creative process. But perhaps above all it's a love story of undeniable power.

As for Art Pepper's true feelings about his daughter, they come out most poignantly and memorably on his recordings of a composition he wrote for her: "Patricia's Song." The rare recording captured by Laurie--released on LaserLight some 20 years after his death--is especially recommended. What it lacks in audio fidelity is more than compensated for by the sincerity of the altoist's moving solo along with his verbal comments to the audience immediately upon conclusion of an emotionally-draining performance.

Art Pepper was a great, great jazz musician and a terrifyingly/wonderfully complex human being who continued to grow--musically and morally--throughout his life. "Notes from a Jazz Survivor" includes some terrific music and a lot of terrific talk from Pepper--detached, ironic, moving, and real. The footage here was shot in the first half of 1982--and we know it was the first half, because Art Pepper died in June, 1982. Yet there's not a single hint that this about a man on the verge of death: he's vital, and funny, and deep in every frame, talking about his love of life and love of music. Thanks go to his savior-wife, Laurie, for making sure that we can see this story today.

And if you want to see two geniuses of the alto sax back to back--both great players, and very different people--watch this along with Phil Woods's "Life in E-Flat". You'll love them both.