Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section CD

Personnel: Art Pepper (alto saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (acoustic bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums).
Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California on January 19, 1957. Originally released on Contemporary (7532). Includes liner notes by Lester Koenig.
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
By the time of this, Art Pepper's tenth recording as a leader, he was making his individual voice on the alto saxophone leave the cozy confines of his heroes Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz. Joining the Miles Davis rhythm section of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones made the transformation all that more illuminating. It's a classic east meets west, cool plus hot but never lukewarm combination that provides many bright moments for the quartet during this exceptional date from that great year in music, 1957. A bit of a flip, loosened but precise interpretation of the melody on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" gets the ball rolling, followed by a "Bags Groove" parallel with "Red Pepper Blues," and a delicate, atypical treatment of "Imagination." A compositional collaboration of Pepper and Chambers on the quick "Waltz Me Blues" and hard-edged, running-as-fast-as-he-can take of "Straight Life" really sets the gears whirring. Philly Joe Jones is a great bop drummer, no doubt, one of the all-time greats with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. His crisp Latin-to-swing pace for "Tin Tin Deo" deserves notice, masterful in its creation and seamlessness. Pepper makes a typical "Star Eyes" brighter, and he goes into a lower octave tone, more like a tenor, for "Birks Works" and the bonus track "The Man I Love." It's clear he has heard his share of Stan Getz in this era. Though Art Pepper played with many a potent trio, this one inspires him to the maximum, and certainly makes for one of his most substantive recordings after his initial incarcerations, and before his second major slip into the deep abyss of drug addiction. ~ Michael G. Nastos
In the 1950s, Miles Davis assembled one of the premier rhythm sections in jazz. His pre-Bill Evans group, consisting of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones (heard on such albums as ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT and MILESTONES) was hard to beat. The way they performed together was remarkable, at once musically conversational and nearly telepathic in their collective thinking.
On this unusual '57 outing, "West Coast cool" alto saxophonist Art Pepper teams up with these great rhythm players. The result is a seamless match of styles and approaches that showcases the skills of all four master musicians. Highlights include the burning-fast Pepper original "Straight Life" and the endearing "Red Pepper Blues," a tune composed by Red Garland just five hours prior to the recording session.Down Beat (8/01, p.74) - 4.5 stars out of 5 - "...Superb....one of his most incandescent recorded performances....flawless and fluent..."