Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section is a 1957 jazz album by saxophonist Art Pepper playing with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, who at the time were the rhythm section for Miles Davis's quintet.
According to legend, the album was recorded under enormous pressure: Pepper first learnt of it on the morning of the recording session, had never met the other musicians (though he admired them all), hadn't played for two weeks (according to the liner notes) or six months (according to Pepper's autobiography Straight Life), was playing on an instrument in a bad state of repair, and was suffering from a drug problem. (This story is clearly unreliable: the discography in Straight Life reveals, for instance, that he had recorded many sessions in the previous weeks, including one just five days before.) Whatever the truth of the recording's circumstances, it is considered a milestone in Pepper's career, and launched a series of albums for Les Koenig's Contemporary label which remain the cornerstone of Pepper's recorded work.
- "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" (Porter) –5:30
- "Red Pepper Blues" (Garland) –3:39
- "Imagination" (Burke–VanHeusen) –5:56
- "Waltz Me Blues" (Chambers–Pepper) –2:58
- "Straight Life" (Pepper) –4:02
- "Jazz Me Blues" (Delaney) –4:50
- "Tin Tin Deo" (Fuller–Pozo) –7:42
- "Star Eyes" (DePaul–Raye) –5:12
- "Birks Works" (Gillespie) –4:15
2 comments:
i love this album, though pepper's actual playing on it is a slight notch below his often astonishing work during that period. i think he felt the same way and that's why he concocted his little "i hadn't played the saxophone in 6 months" story. i love the album anyway, because even slightly subpar art pepper is pretty damned great and because red garland, paul chambers and philly joe were one of the best jazz rhythm sections ever and they are in ridiculously sharp form here.
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