1957...Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section....

A bonus download for Thursday: The classic 1957 recording of "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section", by  jazz alto saxophonist, Art Pepper. This is one of my favourite albums that he recorded, and generally thought of as one of his best releases of the '50s.  Miles Davis was playing on the West Coast, & Les Koenig set up this date in which Pepper sits in with Davis's rhythm section (Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums). Famously, Koenig & Pepper's wife Diane kept the date a secret from Pepper until the morning of the session, fearing that he'd be too nervous to agree to do the date (Art was seriously bad with his heroin addiction at the time, and hadn't played is sax in months...in his autobiography, Pepper states that his horn and reeds were in serious disrepair, and he had to go get his fix on to even make the date to record). I've always thought that his just letting go and winging it made this album work....of any of his releases, this is still one that I go to first....it just clicks and swings hard for me.....enjoy.

Here's the link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/4_Wm2R15/artp.html

Here's the track list:

1. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
2. Red Pepper Blues
3. Imagination   
4. Waltz Me Blues   
5. Straight LIfe   
6. Jazz Me Blues   
7. Tin Tin Deo   
8. Star Eyes   
9. Birks Works