ART PEPPER (ALTO SAXOPHONE)

Art Pepper is said to belong to a group called so-called West Coast school. Their characteristics are not sounds that come to be heard from the darkest jazz clubs in New York, but as if it were a clear blue sound like California's blue sky. The images associated with white jazz players like Pepper have features that are different from the image of black players in the sense of comparison. If the difference is extremely simplified, "feeling shabby / heavy feeling" "lightness / stickiness" "skillful / individuality" "emphasis on ensemble / emphasis on ensemble". Generally speaking, it can be said that the lightness and lightness is a kind of mind, which emphasis on ensemble by technical, tendency as a tendency, it applies to the image which heard Pepper's play.

Modern Art 　1956年12月12月28日録音 Blues In Bewitched When You're Smiling Cool Bunny Diannes' Dilemma Stompin' At The Savoy What Is This Thing Called Love Blues Out   Art Pepper (as) Russ Freeman (p) Ben Tucker (b) Chuck Flores  (ds)   If you stopped reading the explanation here, you may be misunderstood the Art  performance as a BGM-like content empty enough for ear-perception. But at the bottom of the superficial lightness of Pepper's performance, there is a creative improvisation that can not be imitated by other players. As soon as entering ad lib from the familiar melodic theme, there is a dreadful play that is hidden in the bottom of a light sound that destroys the original song. It is based on a different methodology from Charlie Parker, and the characteristic of Pepper is that it plays lightly at first glance, without appealing it as "terrible thing", and a code with a major code as a base It is in a place that does not become serious in progress. You will be taken to an unexpected place while idly listening to the tasteful performance of Pepper. It's like a fairy tale of Hameln's whistling. And Pepper has a place to insert a minor tone melody like spice, in some places in its rich improvising phrase, makes you feel strongly the shadow's beauty, letting you listen to your emotions as plenty of thought. That is, beauty of drawing, so to speak. So, once you have heard it, you are full, not many more, you will never get tired of listening repeatedly. His activity period is long, but after playing active in the 1950s, there was a blank after drowning in drugs for a while, and after the comeback in the 1970s the shadow's beauty is said to have transformed into a powerful play with a shadow hidden. I would like you to listen to the slow blues played only by the two people, Ben Tucker and Art Pepper, at the beginning and end of the album. Although this song titled "Blues In" "Blues Out" is stylish, there is almost no theme thematic theme, and from the beginning to the end he is playing with ad lib. He is competing only with ad lib for 6 and 5 minutes, which is the performance time of each song. Besides, these songs are just too simple, just two of the bass and saxophone, almost everything is his saxophone solo. So, the saxophone he plays does not blow at all with the feeling of belly, and does not use Keren who blows a blow with the sound of a light touch, nor does it sing a melody as a cotton . If you write like this, you will understand his performance as though it were uncharacteristic. You may think that his performance is "Wabi,-Sabi" in Zen. That is not a mistake. Strongly speaking, his saxophone has elements that lead to this song of Shakuhachi(a five-holed bamboo Japanese flute). What is common to both is that it has a deep taste with a tense feeling though it is apparent at first sight. In a performance like a simple extreme like sharpening that emptiness, Pepper makes use of his delicate, shadowy nuance, which is the true verb. He never gets loudly, but rather his play close to the suppressed weak tone remembers the illusion that he is listening to the human voice as various sounds and touch. If you listen to his performance, the other player's saxophone sounds like a monotone. In other songs in this album, it changes to a formation that piano and drums are added, but the whole tone is consistent. For those two songs only, I would like to listen repeatedly in a quiet room in my room, not listening in the hot live. It is closer to listening to classical music, rather than being impressed by Beethoven's intense music, submerged in Chopin's delicate music. Let's listen to the album. The first "Blues In" is an improvised solo that has been stretched for six minutes to stuff. In "Bewitched" Freeman's bright piano intro is a light catharsis that can open up as if it were sight. Pepper's saxophone that follows the piano is as light as feathers grow. Here, Pepper When you blow the one chorus first, after that, play an ad lib phrase as if it blossomed like a blossoming blossom. His ad - lib 's flashing spirit is excessive, and the melody of the theme is broken. Pepper seems to be holding it hard. Even if I listen to it, I do not feel like I'm consciously breaking down such as "Let's like this". He is not exaggerating, he is playing saxophone while keeping his mind "without losing your mind" as if it were a deluge. However, there is another awakening pepper, which also controls the "connection with the theme melody". I feel that way. His creation of such a tension that such control gets stuck is made. With the next song "When You're Smiling", he raises the tempo a little. Pepper plays the sax to make it run lightly, with a theme that closely resembles the melody of "Make a dance all night" of the musical "My Fair Lady". In the next "Cool Bunny", he will raise the tempo further and he will play saxophone at high speed. However, he never escalates the performance. Speaking of piano, it is a feeling of pressing shallowly without pushing the keyboard. Some people may say that they do not feel a sense of weight, he does not feel heavy for his performance. Still, there is a fierce degree in his performance. That's enough. For if you hear strong noise in a place where you listen to the world of weak and delicate intonation, you get a relatively strong stimulus. You listen dramatically there. It is a feeling of unusual, that is, contrasting, when a quiet person always suddenly gets angry with a loud voice. It can be said that the performance of Pepper here is improvingly advancing the ad lib by looking at the whole in this way.

Art Pepper With Warne Marsh I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me (Orig. Take) I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me (Alt. Take) All The Things You Are (Orig. Take) All The Things You Are (Alt. Take) What's New Avalon Tickle Toe Warnin' (Take 1) Warnin' (Take 2) Stomping At The Savoy   Art Pepper (as) Ben Tucker (b) Gary Frommer(ds) Ronnie Ball(p) Warne Marsh(ts)   Art Pepper performed the first leader session on the contemporary label in November 1956. But the recording was not released for a long time, some was released in 1972 and finally it was released as a settled in 1986. That is this album. Warne Marsch of Tenor Sachs co-starring in this album is a disciple of Lenny Triestano, known for his unique improvisational style different from Bebop. The interaction between Art Pepper and Warne Marsh sometimes goes away, sometimes cuddles, like a conversation between friendly people. The sense of distance of their performance is exquisite, unless each other 's sound overlaps and mixes, it does not become disjointed. It keeps the comfortable tension in the relaxed whole album. That is the charm of this album. Pepper's play is not a type that one person is conspicuous or forcibly pulls the surroundings. Rather, he plays the type of thinking of the whole ensemble, and then configures his play while making the most of his surroundings. When strong-minded pairs form a combo with two heads, they may compete against each other and become competitors of speed battle and solo. There is interesting in such a combo, but here Pepper and Marches make up an intimate ensemble. Three people in the back (piano, bass, three drums, especially the piano 's Ronnie Ball) also do not overburden but are concentrating on unobtrusive performance, making the intimacy even deeper. This album is a relaxing impression compared to "Modern Art". For example, "Warnin '" is a song similar to "Blues In" and "Blues Out" in "Modern Art", but this one is lighter. Sometimes the members of the back are different, but Pepper himself is doing a rhythmical and bouncing performance, so it sounds as if the weak sound is lighter. At the beginning of the album "I Can not Believe That You're In Love With Me (Orig. Take)", you can enjoy Pepper and Marsh ensemble from the beginning. Pepper was one of the solo player in "Modern Art" composed of One Horn, so I was strained and I got a lot of power on my shoulder. On the other hand, in "Art Pepper With Warne Marsh", it is fortunate that it will be an ensemble of Marsh and Pepper, Pepper's performance is relaxed by the shoulder's power. Pepper's performance is fun and it is playing rhythmically. In his relaxed mood there is "flash" in his ad lib, and without appealing it like "flash" (but when listening properly phrases and melodies themselves are "flashing") What a cosmetic face Casual. Here, you can see pleasantly and light figure of Pepper. Pepper and Marsh also have a high homogeneity, but when you listen to details, you can also enjoy watching a subtle difference between Peppers who are feeling well in cool mash and similar phrases is there.

Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section     You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To   Red Pepper Blues     Imagination   Waltz Me Blues   Straight Life   Jazz Me Blues Tin Tin Deo   Star Eyes   Birks Works   The Man I Love   Art Pepper (as)   Paul Chambers (b) Philly Joe Jones(ds) Red Garland(p)   After listening to the performance of Charlie Parker and his followers, you will receive the impression that listening to art pepper sounds lighter. Parker plays like fragments fluttering at high speed as if melting melodies. When you listen to Parker's performance, you will be overwhelmed. On the contrary, Pepper's playing will not destroy the theme's melody from the beginning, so you may feel hemorrhagically by listening to his performance. It is this album that pursued that light feeling that you felt as a beauty point. Even if this album is flown into the room as a BGM in a fancy bar, it will not be out of place. Even without listening to jazz, it is this album that probably has elements that you can receive as good quality as jazz mood. Actually, this album seems to be preeminently high in recognition among Pepper's recordings. It is by no means a bad thing, it is only one highlighting one of the characteristics of Pepper. This album has a reputation for good sound quality of recording. In this album, the sound of Alto Sax of Pepper gives to those who listen to the impression surprisingly moist, undoubtedly nude and heavy hanging, unlike the image of dry and sound in other albums . With the impression of such tone color, you will feel that you will not lose the feeling of liveliness, not being dark, while being calm and moist with the performance of this album. As a whole, pepper seems to emphasize the ensemble of each player as a whole by making good use of such tone color and unique phrasing and other features. So, even if the album title is "Meets · Rhythm Section", the rhythm section does not stir up pepper, it goes to accompaniment. In the song "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" at the beginning of the album, the same alto sax Lee Konitz dismantled the melody of the original song in the album "Motion" and the familiar theme Compared to playing not being heard even once, it is easy to be familiar.