One thing is for certain, Art Pepper never “mailed it in” …
Art Pepper – Everything Happens to Me: Live at the Cellar – Omnivore Recordings/ Widows Taste Music # OVCD-607/810075115475 – 4 CD – 1959 – ****
(Art Pepper – alto and tenor saxophone; Chris Gage – piano; Tony Clitheroe – bass; George Ursan – drums)
Art Pepper crammed a lot in, during his 56 years of sometimes hard living.
There were so many highs and lows. Not all the “highs” were pleasant. His hard drug dependency led to stays at San Quentin, certainly not a “country club” prison. But Art was a survivor. What kept him going was his love of playing his saxophone, where he poured out his heart, never content to take it easy.
It began in his teens playing in south central LA, where as a young white player, he had to earn credibility. The need to continue to “prove himself” was a constant throughout his lifetime. Pepper wore his “heart on his sleeve,” and it showed, especially on his passionate reads on ballads.
Art went through several phases in his career. Beginning with a stay with Stan Kenton’s big band, he was a mainstay on the West Coast, exploring the “cool” period in the 1950s. There were interruptions in the both the mid 50s and early 60s, for incarceration. The comebacks were welcomed in the jazz community. The influence of John Coltrane was felt, and he then returned to his concentration on bop and blues, that remained his focus to the end of his life.
The boutique independent Omnivore Recordings, working with Art’s widow, Laurie Pepper, has just issued a four CD set, from Art’s extended stay in Vancouver, B.C., in the Summer of 1959. The Cellar, a small jazz club, was a perfect venue for Art, backed by a trio of relatively unknown musicians (to US audiences), to explore mostly standards.
Several tracks ( “Holiday Flight,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Yardbird Suite,” and “Allen’s Alley) were recorded over different nights. It was nice to hear Pepper make changes on them depending on his mood.
The one constant throughout all four CDs is a heavy concentration on exploring blues changes. Also, like during all times of his career, Art digs in on ballads. (I have reviewed many of Pepper’s box sets, especially during his later period in the late 70s and early 80s, when he was holding on for dear life, and I will never tire of him playing “Over the Rainbow.”)
Here on this box set, remastered and restored by Michael Graves, with tape transfers by Jay Graves, Art seems relaxed and excited to play for an appreciative live audience. There are no extended intros, and some tracks are incomplete, as likely the tape ran out.
Bassist, Tony Clitheroe, and pianist, Chris Gage back with intuitive skill, and along with drummer, George Ursan, are given time to explore, but, of course, it was Art’s room to blow, and impassioned blues dominated multiple evenings.
“Yardbird Suite,” is taken both as a stroll, and then later done at a much faster tempo. “The Way You Look Tonight,” is given a shot of adrenaline, while “Lover Man,” and “Everything Happens to Me,” drip with emotion. The one original, “Brown Gold,” a variation of “I Got Rhythm,” provides a nice bluesy piano solo for Chris Gage. Art re-imagines two Gershwin tracks, “Strike Up the Band,” and “Somebody Loves Me.”
Laurie Pepper continues to find unreleased live dates to share with Pepper fanatics. This latest box set just whets the appetite for more.
—Review by Jeff Krow
Everything Happens to Me: Live at the Cellar
Tracklist:
Disc One: When You’re Smiling, Cherokee, Over the Rainbow, All the Things You Are, Indiana(Back Home In Indiana), Lover Man, Yardbird Suite, Sweet Georgia Brown
Disc Two: What is This Thing Called Love, Yardbird Suite, Band Intros, What’s New, Holiday Flight, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Allen’s Alley, These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
Disc Three: Holiday Flight, Tangerine, The Way You Look Tonight, Everything Happens to Me, Bernie’s Tune, I Surrender Dear, Over the Rainbow, Allen’s Alley
Disc Four: Brown Gold, Holiday Flight, Strike Up the Band, Somebody Loves Me, There Will Never Be Another You (Parts 1 & Two), Allen’s Alley, Walkin’
