Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman

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Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman
Live album by Art Pepper

Publication
(s)

2011

Label (s) Widow's button

Format (s)

4 CD / 7 LP

Genre (s)

Modern jazz , postbop

Title (number)

20th

running time

4:44:58

occupation

production

Laurie Pepper

Studio (s)

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , London

chronology
Unreleased Art Vol.V: Stuttgart May 25, 1981
(2010) 		Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman Unreleased Art Vol.VII: Sankei Hall Osaka, Japan, November 18, 1980
(2012)
Template: Info box music album / maintenance / parameter error

Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman is a posthumous album by alto saxophonist Art Pepper . The recordings made on June 27 and 28, 1980 as part of the Mole Jazz live event series at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London were released in 2011 on Widow's Taste , the label of his widow Laurie Pepper. It was the sixth album in a series of releases from the estate entitled Unreleased Art . Eight of the 25 titles in the edition were released in 1980 and 1981 as Blues for the Fisherman and True Blues on two LPs by the British label Mole Jazz .

background

Pepper played with his quartet in the London club for two weeks; the recordings took place on the last two days. The British record label Mole Jazz wanted to make its debut with this Art Pepper performance . However, it had to be taken into account that Art Pepper in London could not record under his own name due to contractual reasons; hence his pianist Milcho Leviev served as a fake band leader. In addition, Pepper could not play any of the usual compositions that he had recorded for the American label Galaxy Records in the last five years . A completely different repertoire was needed. Art Pepper played with pianist Milcho Leviev, bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Carl Burnett on the two evenings . The original analog tapes were professionally recorded by Mole Jazz Records in London in collaboration with Ronnie Scott's, transmitted at 192 kHtz (24 bit) before later release, and remastered by Wayne Peet at Newzone Studio in Los Angeles.

The artistic relationship between Pepper and Leviev was not without problems, as his widow recalled: “Here, with Ronnie Scott , Art and Milcho almost had a fight. Art had the feeling that Milcho was playing too many notes behind him; Milcho, tired of being told to 'take a break,' challenged Art. They reconciled, but that was the beginning of the end of their relationship. "

Track list

  • Art Pepper - Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman (Widow's Taste APM 11001)
CD 1
  1. Blues for Blanche 9:51
  2. Talk: Intros / Cat People 1:39
  3. Ophelia 11:06
  4. Talk: Thank you for coming 0:27
  5. Make a List 16:40
  6. Talk: Make a List 0:12
  7. Sad a Little Bit (Milcho Leviev) 7:16
  8. Talk: Clarinet 0:17
  9. Anthropology ( Charlie Parker , Dizzy Gillespie ) 6:26
  10. Red Car 12:08
  11. Blues for Bould 13:52
CD 2
  1. Untitled # 34 11:20
  2. Talk: Weird Noise 0:44
  3. A Song for Richard 13:32
  4. Talk: Rhythm-a-Ning 0:25
  5. Rhythm-a-Ning ( Thelonious Monk ) 9:32
  6. Talk: Rita San Intro 0:19
  7. Rita San false start 0:50
  8. Rita San 6:42
  9. What's new? ( Bob Haggart , Johnny Burke ) 7:59
  10. I'll Remember April ( Don Raye , Gene DePaul , Plas Johnson ) 12:46
  11. Talk: Good Night 0:43
CD 3
  1. True Blues 11:13
  2. Talk: Band & Ophelia Intro 2:32
  3. Ophelia 10:32
  4. Make a List 14:57
  5. Stardust ( Hoagy Carmichael ) 8:06
  6. Talk: 3 out of 4; Red Car false start 3:08
  7. Red Car 12:30
  8. Talk: About Straight Life 0:41
  9. Straight Life 7:00
CD 4
  1. Untitled # 34 11:46
  2. Talk: Reminiscing 1:47
  3. The Trip 12:38
  4. Talk: Accident Prone 0:18
  5. I'll Remember April ( Don Raye , Gene de Paul , Plas Johnson ) 11:48
  6. Talk: Goodbye Intro 0:25
  7. Goodbye ( Gordon Jenkins ) 11:11
  8. In a Mellow Tone ( Duke Ellington ) 6:20
  9. Talk: Clarinet, "Play the blues" 0:43
  10. Blues for the Fisherman + Talk: "I Love You All." 13:02
  • All other compositions are from Art Pepper.

reception

Greg Simmons wrote in All About Jazz what makes Art Peppers Blues for the Fishermen stand out is the boldness and open expressiveness of his alto saxophone playing. The recording offers a rare opportunity to hear two full, uninterrupted club performances, including his jokes with the audience. Pepper is clearly enjoying himself, joking with the crowd, and his play reflects that warm interaction. The synergy within the band is telepathic, obviously inspired by Pepper's buoyancy.

According to Marc Myers ( Jazzwax ), it could be the best recording of the late Art Pepper and gives two reasons for this: First, the musician felt remarkably comfortable in front of this British audience, which is reflected in the softness of his tone. Pepper was afraid to play in front of half empty houses. He often had nightmares of showing up at tables until a gig with three people half asleep. For those two nights in June, Ronnie Scott's Club was full, much to Pepper's delight. Second, Myers says, the quality of the live recording is amazingly vibrant. "In plain language it sounds like Pepper is in the room with you".

Jeff Simon (The Listening Post / Buffalo News) noted that "this was a 400-horsepower post-bop from a great jazz alto saxophonist," who, despite a chaotic, drug-addicted life, never performed badly. You might not be in love with the piano Leviev plays at Ronnie Scott's Club, but some of the interplay between Leviev and Pepper at those gigs could burn the club down. One could not imagine how extraordinary it is now that this musician, whose life has so often disappeared from recording for a long time, should turn out to be one of the greatest of his time, who is now presented in glorious abundance.

Thomas Conrad praised in Jazztimes that compared to the first five editions of the series, which contained “valuable, mostly unpublished live performances from sources with impaired sound such as audio cassette recordings by fans, the recordings from Ronnie Scott's are different. It's a professional recording. Regarding the music on the album, the author said: “It was two nights for eternity.” Pepper played track for track “with soulful passion and fearless creativity. He had his best band in England with him. Leviev, a Bulgarian pianist with serious strokes who has stayed in the shadow of jazz throughout his career, releases insane solos and incites Pepper with merciless comping . Bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Carl Burnett are trapped in the energy. ”Two years before the end of a very hard life, Pepper stopped playing with the bright, pure, singing alto saxophone sound of Art Pepper + Eleven from 1959.“ His sound was become too many variations of a naked human scream from the soul, ”wrote Conrad. He was not a perfect player. You could hear him thinking and sometimes mark the time until the wind of inspiration blew through him, which it almost always did. Then suddenly it broke out with lines that were all connected to breathtaking spontaneous melodic effusions. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Thomas Conrad: Art Pepper: Blues for the Fisherman. April 25, 2019, accessed January 27, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Art Pepper - Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman. Bandcamp, May 6, 2019, accessed March 27, 2020 .
  3. ^ Art Pepper - Unreleased Art Vol. VI: Blues for the Fisherman at Discogs
  4. ^ Greg Simmons: Art Pepper: Blues for the Fisherman. All About Jazz, May 6, 2019, accessed March 27, 2020 .