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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic pick-up date, December 6, 2000
This date is traditionally seen as a watershed in Pepper's career, both in aesthetic terms and in terms of public recognition. Miles Davis was playing on the West Coast, & Les Koenig set up this date in which Pepper sits in with Davis's rhythm section (Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums). Famously, Koenig & Pepper's wife Diane kept the date a secret from Pepper until the morning of the session, fearing that he'd be too nervous to agree to working with such a formidable group of East Coast musicians. Pepper was also deep in his drug problems, & hadn't picked up his instrument for ages. (The story is told in Pepper's autobiography _Straight Life_; I suspect there's a certain amount of self-mythologizing, but....) Almost miraculously, this hastily arranged pick-up date, with its assortment of easily-picked standards and a couple originals, turned out to be one of the best jazz records of the 1950s.It's not perhaps surprising that Pepper & the Davis rhythm section hit it off. Pepper's style, though certainly strongly influenced by Charlie Parker, still is grounded in his affection for earlier saxophonists like Benny Carter & Lester Young; his repertoire often included pre-bop standards like "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" or, on this recording, "Jazz Me Blues" (from the Bix Beiderbecke/Frankie Trumbauer records). His signature tune, "Straight Life", given a superb reading here, is a lightning-fast contrafact on the old standard "After You've Gone". Miles Davis was similarly in the 1950s exploring 1920s and 1930s pop songs that the original boppers would rarely have touched (there's a telling anecdote in Davis's autobiography, about his struggle to get a cocky young Jackie McLean to learn the old standards instead of just concentrating on modern tunes). -- But Pepper was also pointing ahead to the future: though he was an elegantly pointed player with a great tone, his sound sometimes has distortions & bends that give great emotional impact to his playing (he is light-years away from the glibness & overrelaxation which sometimes afflicted West Coast jazz), an approach that was to make him one of the first of the older musicians to recognize the importance of Ornette Coleman & John Coltrane, & to incorporate elements of their freedom into his playing. This is an essential modern jazz album. Those who enjoy it wll want to search out Pepper's other albums for Contemporary, such as the superb _Intensity_. There's also a fine disc called _The Way It Was!_, consisting of a first-rate previously unreleased session with Warne Marsh, & a bunch of outtakes, including one discarded tune from the _Rhythm Section_ sessions ("The Man I Love", if memory serves). Fans of Pepper tend to divide into two batches--those who love the work up to 1960 (before his extended sabbatical, first in San Quentin then in Synanon); & those who idolize the later work from the 1970s. I mostly belong to the first group; to my mind, the run of Contemporary albums Pepper did between 1955 and 1960 is one of the central documents in postwar jazz.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best quartet albums ever, March 11, 2003
A true classic from the 50's, I believe this album is one of the best quartet albums ever made. The stories surrounding the making of it are fascinating, but the music even more so. And that's where I'd like to focus on.It grabs you immediately when Red Garland starts the intro of "You'd be so nice to come home to". The tightness of the rhythm section is almost frightening. Especially the coda's of most tunes are simply unbelievable. The one I just play over and over again is "Red Pepper Blues". And that's just one part of the record, because next to this amazing rhythm playing is Art Pepper. He is simply unique. Not relying on technique, but truely playing with his guts and in posession of one of the most beautiful alto sounds. And he's a great listener too: the way he blends with the rhythm section...
And that is what makes this a truely great record. The superb interplay, not just a rhythm section with a solist, but a 4-piece band, with each member fulfilling equal roles. One of my all time favorite records, and the one I recommend most highly.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic pick-up date, December 9, 2001
This date is traditionally seen as a watershed in Pepper's career, both in aesthetic terms and in terms of public recognition. Miles Davis was playing on the West Coast, & Les Koenig set up this date in which Pepper sits in with Davis's rhythm section (Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums). Famously, Koenig & Pepper's wife Diane kept the date a secret from Pepper until the morning of the session, fearing that he'd be too nervous to agree to working with such a formidable group of East Coast musicians. (...) (The story is told in Pepper's autobiography _Straight Life_; I suspect there's a certain amount of self-mythologizing, but....) Almost miraculously, this hastily arranged pick-up date, with its assortment of easily-picked standards and a couple originals, turned out to be one of the best jazz records of the 1950s.It's not perhaps surprising that Pepper & the Davis rhythm section hit it off. Pepper's style, though certainly strongly influenced by Charlie Parker, still is grounded in his affection for earlier saxophonists like Benny Carter & Lester Young; his repertoire often included pre-bop standards like "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" or, on this recording, "Jazz Me Blues" (from the Bix Beiderbecke/Frankie Trumbauer records). His signature tune, "Straight Life", given a superb reading here, is a lightning-fast contrafact on the old standard "After You've Gone". Miles Davis was similarly in the 1950s exploring 1920s and 1930s pop songs that the original boppers would rarely have touched (there's a telling anecdote in Davis's autobiography, about his struggle to get a cocky young Jackie McLean to learn the old standards instead of just concentrating on modern tunes). -- But Pepper was also pointing ahead to the future: though he was an elegantly pointed player with a great tone, his sound sometimes has distortions & bends that give great emotional impact to his playing (he is light-years away from the glibness & overrelaxation which sometimes afflicted West Coast jazz), an approach that was to make him one of the first of the older musicians to recognize the importance of Ornette Coleman & John Coltrane, & to incorporate elements of their freedom into his playing. This is an essential modern jazz album. Those who enjoy it wll want to search out Pepper's other albums for Contemporary, such as the superb _Intensity_. There's also a fine disc called _The Way It Was!_, consisting of a first-rate previously unreleased session with Warne Marsh, & a bunch of outtakes, including one discarded tune from the _Rhythm Section_ sessions ("The Man I Love", if memory serves). Fans of Pepper tend to divide into two batches--those who love the work up to 1960 (before his extended sabbatical, first in San Quentin then in Synanon); & those who idolize the later work from the 1970s. I mostly belong to the first group; to my mind, the run of Contemporary albums Pepper did between 1955 and 1960 is one of the central documents in postwar jazz.
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~ Art Pepper
~ Cannonball Adderley
~ Art Pepper
~ Charles Mingus
~ Art Pepper
by Art Pepper 
