The Way It Was [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Art Pepper | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Mobile Fidelity Koch
• ASIN: B0012OVFVG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,328 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me

2. All the Things You Are

3. What's New

4. Tickle Toe

5. The Man I Love

6. Autumn Leaves

7. The Way You Look Tonight

8. I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me [Alternate Take]

9. All the Things You Are [Alternate Take]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belated release of some classic music, August 5, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Way It Was (Audio CD)

Hard to believe these sides sat in a can till 1972. The main feature is Side A of the original LP: a November 1956 session with Warne Marsh (thus predating Pepper's first Contemporary release, the classic _...Meets the Rhythm Section_, which was recorded in Jan. 1957), with Ronnie Ball on piano, Ben Tucker on bass & Gary Frommer on drums. It's tremendous stuff (augmented on CD issue with a few alternate takes)--they tackle "Tickle Toe", "All the Things You Are", "What's New", & "I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me" (the last two being particular favourites of Pepper's: there are plenty of recorded versions to compare in his canon). It's a real pity Marsh & Pepper only recorded together on one other occasion (a Vanguard disc with Ted Brown also on board): the partnership here is as heady & fine-drawn as any Marsh/Konitz pairing in the 1950s. The rest of the disc is outtakes from other Contemporary dates, but there's no particular reason why they were left off the original discs (except time restrictions, I guess): certainly the uptempo "The Man I Love" from the _...Meets the Rhythm Section_ session is as fine as any of the originally released tracks, & there are also good things here left over from _Intensity_ & _Gettin' Together_.

I still don't fathom why, in this boxed-set-obsessed market, there's not a proper set of all Pepper's Contemporary sides--surely there's more in the can than has yet seen light? In any case, this disc shows how much fine music got left out the first time round. Liner notes are by Pepper himself "told to Laurie Miller", & thus a dry run of sorts for the oral-history approach of his autobiography _Straight Life_.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Form, August 9, 2005

By 

Philip "jazz lover" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Way It Was (Audio CD)

Art Pepper is in top form in this set of standards which make up this splended record. I now own a number of his records and this one confirms that Art is definitely without a doubt in my mind the finest Altoist I have heard. He had this amazing capacity to be consistent at a very high level of playing in many recordings.

The ballad "What's New" is the exceptional song on this record which demonstrates his mastery over the Alto Sax. Other highlights are "All the Things you Are, The Man I Love, Autumn Leaves and The Way you Look Tonight". The various supporting players on different tracks also do a fine job.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz never sounded so good, October 24, 2008

By 

John Crossett (Stowe, Vermont) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way It Was (Audio CD)

If you're a jazz fan AND if you love Art Pepper than these early recordings are going to bring a smile to your face. Plus, Mobile Fidelity's SACD treatment (provided you have the appropriate player to take advantage of the high resolution SACD layer of this hybrid CD/SACD) is going to make it seem as though Art and his friends are in the room with you. Highly recommended.