ART-eology - New Music from Art Pepper

Art of Art (Red Records, 2024), Geneva (Omnivore Records, 2025), An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (Elemental Music, 2025)

Roger Marshutz

Alto Saxophone player Art Pepper passed away on Tuesday, June 15, 1982. The previous Wednesday, Pepper had complained to his wife, Laurie, that he had a headache. That week later, he was gone, concluding a jazz era Götterdämmerung, the end of one of the most fabulously profligate and beautifully productive artistic lives within the American Romantic myth.

Pepper began his professional life in 1944 with Benny Carter’s band, moving on to Stan Kenton. After a stint in the Army during World War II, he returned to the Kenton band. Gradually, Pepper began leading his own recording dates. Between 1952 and 1956, Pepper recorded as leader and in partnership with trumpeters Chet Baker and Jack Sheldon. While notable, these recordings do not compare to the alto saxophonist’s later recordings.

In 1956, Pepper gained traction through a contract with Contemporary Records where he make recordings that would define West Coast jazz. In short order appeared Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (1957), Art Pepper + Eleven—Modern Jazz Classics (1959), Gettin' Together (1960); Smack Up (1960) and Intensity (1963). The recording of this last album took place between November 23rd and 25th, 1960. On the afternoon of the 25th, Pepper walked out of the recording studio into the next 15 years of oblivion.

In 1975, positive circumstances brought Pepper back to the Contemporary Studios to record Living Legend, starting a most successful and sustained comeback. Between 1975 and Pepper’s death, the saxophonist recorded 36 albums (21 of which were released in his lifetime) and toured the East Coast, Europe, and Japan several times. This was Pepper making up for lost time and is an output by quality and volume that is impressive by any measure.

Between 2006 and the present, Laurie Pepper, the saxophonist’s widow, made available 10 previously unreleased live recordings on her Widow’s Taste label, which has recently joined with Omnivore Records releasing The Complete Maiden Voyage Recordings (2023). Singlehandedly, Laurie Pepper has kept her husband’s legacy visibility while dramatically adding to it. This added exposure has led to other previously unknown revealed being released.

Art Pepper
Art of Art
Red Records, 2024; Recorded live at the Estate Jazz Festival, Genova, July 6, 1981.

This Red Records Art Pepper release offers a great comparison to the two releases that follow. The temporal and spiritual differences between this recording and the two that follow are the pianist and bassist. Art and his incendiary drummer, Carl Burnett, are the constants. This recording features Pepper’s favorite pianist, “Mr. Beautiful” George Cables and bassist David Williams. They represent a calm center for Pepper and Burnett as opposed to the fire-breathing juggernaut that is pianist Milcho Leviev and bassist Tony Dumas on the next two recordings. There is a swinging sweetness to these performances recorded at the Estate Jazz Festival in July 1981. This “Blues For Blanche” is almost serene when heard beside those performed in Geneva 1980 and An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert. The listener can see (hear) its ribs so carefully curated is the performance. Pepper’s relationships with these two pianists were quite different, readily heard. Pepper and Cables were about challenge surrounding nuance while Leviev unhinged Pepper, their challenge being a more sanguine one. Equal, the same, but not. Art Pepper's playing on this music is superb, and we are lucky to have so much new music.

Art Pepper
Geneva 1980
Omnivore Records, 2025; Recorded live at The New Morning, Geneva Switzerland, July 5, 1980.

Laurie Pepper, Art Pepper’s widow, captured this concert at The New Morning in Geneva during the alto saxophonist’s 1980 European Tour. Pianist Milcho Leviev, bassist Tony Dumas, and drummer Carl Burnett rounded out the performing quartet with Pepper. The sonics are very good because of the attention given them by Wayne Peet’s restoration and Michael Graves’ clinical mastering of the material. Any sound quibbles that result from the recording source are more than forgiven by the fire that each musician brings to these staggeringly potent performances. This is a ferociously played concert with Pepper and Burnett developing a communion comparable only to that achieved between John Coltrane and Elvin Jones after having reached escape velocity. The opener, “Ophelia” bears this out, as do the Pepper concert standards “Mambo Koyama” and “Make A List (Make A Wish)” two originals where Pepper builds in a two-chord dirge over which for all the principles to solo. Leviev’s solo on the latter eclipses that on the touchstone performance of the same piece on Unreleased Art Vol. 3, The Croydon Concert, May 14, 1981 (Widow’s Taste/Omnivore Recordings, 2022). “Blues for Blanche” rocks…HARD. Pepper and band even play the ballads with a densely corrosive grace that is deceptively soothing while the performance kills you…exactly the way music is supposed to. Outstanding Art Pepper.

Art Pepper
An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
Elemental Music, 2025; Recorded live at Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Kongsberg Kino, Kongsberg, Norway, June 29, 1980.

Pepper’s Kongsberg performance took place on the Sunday before his Geneva date. This European tour was leading into Pepper’s September 1980 date to record his album with strings, Winter Moon (Galaxy Records, 1981). The saxophonist's exceptional talent as an alto saxophonist and bandleader finally received proper recognition during his most productive period. This Kongsberg performance has professional sound capture, with clear and superb sonics. The performances were more subdued than the Geneva show a week later, but Pepper and the band still provided ample fire to warm things up. The mix effectively captured Tony Dumas' bass as they played "The Trip," a minor blues waltz, with great precision. Pepper’s performance of “Make a Wish (Make a List)” is the best made with this band. Not a wasted note or beat. It stands in complete contrast to the later Geneva performance, yet the two performances are equal, illustrating the durable and malleable nature of jazz. The band beautifully ornaments the Pepper original, “Patricia,” giving the piece majesty and a quiet grace. The quiet part ends with the opening of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” leading to a swinging performance of “Blues For Blanche,” where Pepper locks in the Dumas to drive the blues. Pepper concluded the concert with a blistering take on Pepper’s 1954 bop tune, “Straight Life.”

This is a treasure trove of previously unheard Art Pepper. We can only hope that more is revealed.