Search - Art Pepper :: Discovery Sessions

Those familiar with Art Pepper's later and more heavily orchestrated works will be surprised by the sparseness of these early sessions, the first that Pepper ever cut as a leader. After serving in the armed forces between 1944 and 1946, Pepper got a job with Stan Kenton's band. This, and a 1951 Downbeat poll that placed him second only to Charlie Parker as Best Alto Sax Player, caught the attention of Albert Marx, who owned Discovery Records. During the following year-and-a-half, Pepper cut several sessions for the label, and it's those recordings that make up this CD. Although the personnel varied with each incarnation of the band, the basic makeup was the same: a small-piece unit, featuring sax, piano, bass, and drums, based roughly on the ideal founded by the classic bebop quartets and quintets in the early '40s. In fact, it's quite evident listening to these sessions that this was one of the last stands of bebop as bebop alone. Pepper has often been lumped with the "cool" stylings of the West Coast wave, and listening to his dulcet tones on the "Misty"-like "What's New (Alternate)," it's easy to sense the whole softening that jazz was going through at the time (after the frenetic acceleration of Bird, Bud, and Monk). Pepper's sax was a soft sob, punctuated by measured blows and a genuine remorse that was hard to hide. But at this point, his primary springboard was still the highly mathematical style of Bird, Bud, and Monk. In any event, he helped pave the way for the whole West Coast wing, including Jack Sheldon, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers, Barney Kessel, Gerry Mulligan, and Chet Baker. In the meantime, he came closer than almost anybody in evoking the majesty of Charlie Parker--perhaps the century's greatest musician--on tracks like the great "The Way You Look Tonight" (which is better than Coltrane's version). As these cuts were recorded in order, one gets the sense that Pepper's style was evolving quickly, as on "Cinnamon" and "What's New" where, as a soloist, he seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. --Joe S. Harrington