Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981
Live album by Art Pepper

Publication
(s)

2006

Label (s) Widow's button

Format (s)

2 CD

Genre (s)

Modern jazz , postbop

Title (number)

12

running time

1:48:45

occupation

production

Laurie Pepper

chronology
The 1975 Garden State Jam Sessions
(2005) 		Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981 Unreleased Art, Vol. II: The Last Concert May 30, 1982 - Kennedy Center, Washington DC
(2007)

Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981 is a posthumous album by alto saxophonist Art Pepper . The recordings made on November 22, 1981 in Abashiri on the island of Hokkaidō were released on October 1, 2006 on Widow's Taste , the label of his widow Laurie Pepper. This started a series of publications from Pepper's estate entitled Unreleased Art .

background

Despite his precarious health marred by decades of substance abuse , Art Pepper performed frequently and had the gigs taped over the last seven years of his life. After Pepper's death in 1982, an enormous amount of material from those years appeared. Laurie Pepper has published previously unreleased recordings of Art Pepper on her label Widows Taste since 2006 . These recordings were made during Pepper's last tour of Japan seven months before his death. Supported by one of his favorite quartets - with George Cables on piano, David Williams on bass and Carl Burnett on drums, Pepper played at the 1981 concert in Abashiri, alongside his own compositions, bop standards (Monk's "Rhythm-A-Ning"), blues numbers and a samba -Title ("Besame Mucho"), furthermore the ballad " Body and Soul ", which rarely appears in Pepper's repertoire.

There are some serious technical glitches: “For Freddie” fades out after just 41 seconds, only to reappear when the performance has moved into a different musical context. Laurie Pepper said this was because they had to turn the tape over. “Landscape” begins with a fade-in into a running piano solo.

Track list

Art Pepper's last quartet, with David Williams, George Cables and Carl Burnett
  • Art Pepper: Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981 (Widow's Taste APMC 06001)
CD 1
  1. Landscape (Art Pepper) 10:45
  2. Besame Mucho ( Consuelo Velázquez ) 15:08
  3. Red Car (Art Pepper) 12:43
  4. Goodbye ( Gordon Jenkins ) 10:37
  5. Straight Life (Art Pepper) 8:16
CD 2
  1. Road Waltz (Art Pepper) 12:51
  2. For Freddie (Part One) (Art Pepper) 0:41
  3. For Freddie (Part Two) (Art Pepper) 8:41
  4. Body and Soul (Heyman, Eyton, Green, Sour) 13:30
  5. Talking (Art Pepper) 0:33
  6. Rhythm-A-Ning ( Thelonious Monk ) 12:53
  7. Blues Encore (Inc.) (Art Pepper) 2:15

reception

Richard S. Ginell awarded the album four stars in Allmusic and wrote that Pepper's alto saxophone playing was completely unimpaired seven months before his death. In the recording, Pepper's play is "consistently extraordinary, regardless of whether it is about sending rockets outward, leading the bop line, playing lyrically or even getting down to simple soul jazz ."

Marc Medwin wrote in All About Jazz that Volume 1 contained one of the best rhythm sections that Pepper has ever used. The performance bursts with different emotions and intensities. A particularly invigorating moment occurs when the band shifts into higher gear on an airtight version of “Besame Mucho”. The most important highlight, one of many, is undoubtedly the heartbreaking interpretation of "Body and Soul", which also includes one of the beautiful solos by Cables; few could make a ballad like Art Pepper work. The Japanese audience was more than exuberant as the quartet closes the show with a spicy version of Monk's "Rhythm-A-Ning".

Aerial view of the San Quentin State Prison grounds

Will Friedwald noted in a prosaic way: “Like the ghosts at the end of Thornton Wilders Our little town , he looks back and thinks about what he will miss when he leaves the world behind: Farewell to hot dinners and hot girls, farewell to Girls with bad attitudes in tight dresses, parting with one-night stands both musical and personal, parting with checks, parting with other convicts, parting with practicing, studying and recording from Charlie Parker , Lester Young , Benny Carter right up to bad pianos and squeaking reeds , goodbye to drug clinics and rehab, goodbye to Stan Kenton and Buddy Rich , goodbye to groupies and roadies, goodbye to Los Angeles County Jail and San Quentin . "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Art Pepper: Unreleased Art, Vol. 1: The Complete Abashiri Concert - November 22, 1981 at Discogs
  2. ^ Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  3. ↑ Marc Medwin: Art Pepper: Unreleased Art Vol. 1 & 2. All About Jazz, June 8, 2008, accessed on March 27, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Unreleased Art Pepper, Vol. 1 - The Complete Abashiri Concert. Bandcamp, May 6, 2019, accessed March 25, 2020 .