Intensity

Art Pepper | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YLJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,599 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese limited edition issue of the album classic in a deluxe, miniaturized LP sleeve replica of the original vinyl album artwork. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars End of chapter one, August 8, 2001

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intensity (Audio CD)

This album marks the famous divide in Pepper's career. It was recorded in 1960 just after Pepper was busted for narcotics & before he was sent to San Quentin for 6 years (read his autobiography _Straight Life_ for a gripping account); Les Koenig, owner of Contemporary Records, raised some bail & quickly arranged this session. (Pepper notes in his book that because this was the last album he recorded for Contemporary, Koenig stockpiled it for a few years--it was released in 1963.) The album features the ubiquitous West Coast rhythm section of Jimmy Bond on bass & the redoubtable Frank Butler on drums--they had already featured on his previous album, _Smack Up_, recorded only a month before. This time, however, the pianist was Dolo Coker, a little-celebrated pianist who proves entirely compatible. (Coker--real first name Charles--later reunited with Butler & Pepper for Coker's 1978 Xanadu album _California Hard_.) The material, because of the circumstances, was easily-picked standards, many of which Pepper had recorded before; yet the date is anything but routine. Pepper was a "West Coast player", a term which often carries a subtext of derision--of overly polite, too-slick jazz, lacking the intensity & drive of the music coming out of Chicago, New York, &c. Such stereotypes are easily demolished: Pepper was, in fact, one of the most convincing players of the blues of his generation. Only the bonus track here, "Five Points", is a blues, but the coloration of the blues informs all the tracks. The music combines great urgency with unexpected poise: Pepper's solos are admirably well-constructed. The highlight of the album is probably its one ballad, "Come Rain or Come Shine"; like all the album, it comes across as more wistful than (as one might expect given the circumstances) anguished, though Pepper's tone is keening & slightly rough-edged despite its elegance.

A word for Frank Butler, one of the great drummers of the midcentury who deserved a lot more recognition than he got. He has the kind of unfettered feel one associates with Philly Joe Jones, but his approach is highly individual--his fills aren't like anyone else's in the period. Butler is perhaps most familiar to jazz fans from cameos in the Miles Davis & John Coltrane discographies (he played on _Seven Steps to Heaven_ & in some of Coltrane's 1965 groups); he's also well-featured on many Contemporary discs from the period, notably Curtis Counce's.

This disc is one of Pepper's best. Pepper's work from 1956-60 for Contemporary is probably his most important; any serious jazz fan should have at least a few of these sessions, & I'd name _Intensity_ & _Meets the Rhythm Section_ as the ones to go for first.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Pepper's best records, August 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Intensity (Audio CD)

This album is my favorite Art Pepper record from the late 50s. Though he made several excellent records for Contemporary, two of which ostensibly feature better (more well-known) rhythm sections ("... Meets the Rhythm Section," and "Gettin' Together,") this album has better playing from the leader than the latter of those two, and better tunes than the former.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I agree, July 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Intensity (Audio CD)

I first bought this album in the eighties and it is still my favorite Art Pepper album. It's very intimate (just a quartet) and has especially fiery and "intense" alto playing by Art. Plus great group interplay. I love Dolo Coker's playing, and Frank Butler is outstanding. I wish this group had recorded more together.