Art Pepper, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section (1957)
I’d heard a bit of Art Pepper and a bit about Art Pepper and then I heard this. And this was just it. Replete with the story: Pepper was nervous – he found out about the session the day it took place. The Rhythm Section refers to the players, known as just the best, Miles Davis’ crew (Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums). And the story is unreliable, apocryphal – had Pepper just scored a hit so he could do the session? Or was he drug-free and that’s why he was so nervous? Could he not play straight? There’s also added bits about him having not played for up to six months – or was it just two weeks? And the horn he was using was in need of repair, or had just been repaired – badly. So you take this story, and the versions of it, in with you as you arrive at this album. And that adds to it. You hear a tension, you feel the anxiety. I’ve lived with this album a long time; a very special album to me. A very special album for me. I’ve turned a few people onto it. And I’ve bought it as a gift for a few people, I’ve bought a few CD copies of it – and my vinyl copy sat in my collection sealed for years. Today, of all days, I took it out and gave it a spin. Why today? No reason. Just wanted to say hello to an old friend.
Sample Track: You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown
Took me a while to get used to this recording, after having listened to all of of Pepper’s comeback material from the seventies where his tone and phrasing is very different from his playing in the fifties. His seventies playing is raw and passionate – occasionally incoherent, always reaching, reaching. Confessional brilliance. A master story teller. His 50’s stuff his reserved, pretty, extremely lyrical. But once I got used to Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section I fell in love with it. And I investigated other recordings from that period, which are wonderful too.