Search - Art Pepper :: Intensity

End of chapter one

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 08/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album marks the famous divide in Pepper's career. It was recorded in 1960 just after Pepper was busted for narcotics & before he was sent to San Quentin for 6 years (read his autobiography _Straight Life_ for a gripping account); Les Koenig, owner of Contemporary Records, raised some bail & quickly arranged this session. (Pepper notes in his book that because this was the last album he recorded for Contemporary, Koenig stockpiled it for a few years--it was released in 1963.) The album features the ubiquitous West Coast rhythm section of Jimmy Bond on bass & the redoubtable Frank Butler on drums--they had already featured on his previous album, _Smack Up_, recorded only a month before. This time, however, the pianist was Dolo Coker, a little-celebrated pianist who proves entirely compatible. (Coker--real first name Charles--later reunited with Butler & Pepper for Coker's 1978 Xanadu album _California Hard_.) The material, because of the circumstances, was easily-picked standards, many of which Pepper had recorded before; yet the date is anything but routine. Pepper was a "West Coast player", a term which often carries a subtext of derision--of overly polite, too-slick jazz, lacking the intensity & drive of the music coming out of Chicago, New York, &c. Such stereotypes are easily demolished: Pepper was, in fact, one of the most convincing players of the blues of his generation. Only the bonus track here, "Five Points", is a blues, but the coloration of the blues informs all the tracks. The music combines great urgency with unexpected poise: Pepper's solos are admirably well-constructed. The highlight of the album is probably its one ballad, "Come Rain or Come Shine"; like all the album, it comes across as more wistful than (as one might expect given the circumstances) anguished, though Pepper's tone is keening & slightly rough-edged despite its elegance.A word for Frank Butler, one of the great drummers of the midcentury who deserved a lot more recognition than he got. He has the kind of unfettered feel one associates with Philly Joe Jones, but his approach is highly individual--his fills aren't like anyone else's in the period. Butler is perhaps most familiar to jazz fans from cameos in the Miles Davis & John Coltrane discographies (he played on _Seven Steps to Heaven_ & in some of Coltrane's 1965 groups); he's also well-featured on many Contemporary discs from the period, notably Curtis Counce's.This disc is one of Pepper's best. Pepper's work from 1956-60 for Contemporary is probably his most important; any serious jazz fan should have at least a few of these sessions, & I'd name _Intensity_ & _Meets the Rhythm Section_ as the ones to go for first."

What Are You Doing? Buy This Now!

N. Dorward | 07/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An album like this is one of the reasons we that are smitten by jazz fever can't help but pour a big part of our incomes to find that one jazz artist that we overlooked, despite all of the money spent. This one pays handsome dividends: The driving bass intro in I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me alone is worth the twelve or so greenbacks, and Gone With The Wind is priceless. In fact I would almost pay the price of this CD for Peppers' gaze on the cover!"

I wore out my LP

Richard Frost | San Diego, CA | 11/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Good thing its on CD now. This recording is still studied by aspiring jazz saxaphonists. And face it, you've got a long way to go between "patterns for jazz" (a study book for students) and this session. By the way, if you are an Art Pepper fanatic then check out the "Stan Kenton Presents" series and find the Art Pepper number."