Smack Up (Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series Remaster) Art Pepper Quintet

• 1 Smack Up 04:13
• 2 Las Cuevas De Mario 07:06
• 3 A Bit Of Basie 07:23
• 4 How Can You Lose 06:52
• 5 Maybe Next Year 04:20
• 6 Tears Inside 07:45
• Total Runtime 37:39

Info for Smack Up (Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series Remaster)

Neues Remaster! Die Musik auf diesem Album wurde im August 1959 in den Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood aufgenommen. Pepper ist auf der Höhe seines Könnens und beweist seine Fähigkeit zu Präzision und einschüchternder Leidenschaft. Nirgendwo ist der Beweis so leicht zu erbringen wie bei diesen Aufnahmen, die Pepper auf dem Höhepunkt seines Könnens zeigen. »Smack Up« ist Peppers vorletztes Album als Bandleader, bevor er ins Gefängnis ging, um die längste seiner drogenbedingten Haftstrafen zu verbüßen. Acoustic Sounds und Contemporary Records präsentieren diese Neuauflage von Art Peppers Album »Smack Up« aus dem Jahr 1960.

"Die Beziehungen der Akkorde zueinander zu kennen, zu wissen, wie sie sich in Sequenzen einfügen und wie man auf ihnen aufbaut, erinnert einen daran, dass es eine wichtige Beziehung zwischen Mathematik und Musik gibt."

"Die Art, wie ein Mensch geht, wie er spricht, das Timbre seiner Stimme, die Kadenz seiner Sprache, seine kleinen Variationen in der Formulierung eines Gedankens - all das hat viel mit Individualität zu tun. Dasselbe gilt für das Spiel eines Mannes im Jazz... sein Ton, die Art, wie sich sein Klang bewegt, sein Gefühl für Zeit. Deshalb ist Jazz immer wieder faszinierend. Man kann sechs Leute bitten, ein identisches Solo zu spielen, aber wenn man das Ergebnis hört, hört man sechs verschiedene Soli."

Art Pepper, Altsaxophon
Jack Sheldon, Trompete
Pete Jolly, Klavier
Jimmy Bond, Kontrabass
Frank Butler, Schlagzeug

Aufgenommen am 24. und 25. Oktober 1960 bei Contemporary Records in Los Angeles von Roy DuNann

Digitally remastered by Bernie Grundman

Art Pepper
born in Gardena, California on September 1, 1925 and raised in nearby San Pedro, began playing clarinet at age 9 and, by 15, was performing in Lee Young’s band at the Club Alabam on Central Avenue, the home of jazz in prewar Los Angeles.

He joined Stan Kenton’s band, touring the U.S. and gaining fame, but was drafted in 1943 serving as an MP in London and performing with some British jazz bands. He returned to the States and to Kenton, touring and recording. In 1952 he placed second only to Charlie Parker in the Down Beat jazz poll. Probably his most famous recording from that period is his stunning performance of “Art Pepper,” written by Shorty Rogers (as part of a series of charts Kenton had commissioned to feature members of his band).

Art left Stan Kenton in 1951 to form his own group, occasionally recording for Rogers and others. He signed with Contemporary Records in 1957.

From the beginning Art’s playing combined a tender delicacy of tone with a purity of narrative line—a gift for storytelling that was made irresistible by an inherent, dancing, shouting, moaning inability to ever stop swinging.

He was one of the few alto players to resist the style and tone of Charlie Parker. What he failed to resist was the lure of drugs, ubiquitous, at that time, among jazz musicians. And although some users managed to get through and over their addictions, Art, survivor of a rocky childhood (alcoholic neglectful mother, alcoholic violent father), unbalanced from the get-go, never did quite triumph over his, though he may have fought them to a draw.

So, in 1952, he began a long series of hospitalizations and incarcerations for violations of the drug laws of his time—possession, internal possession (“marks”), and then for violations of his previous releases (more possessions and internal possessions). In time, he became a petty thief, a real thief, a robber (though not an armed robber; his fellow criminals thought he was too crazy to be trusted with a gun). He served time for the Feds (Terminal Island) and for the State of California (San Quentin). He prided himself on being “a stand-up guy,” a good criminal.

All this history makes a pretty gripping story as it’s told by Art with his wife Laurie Pepper in their book, Straight Life (DaCapo). What’s surprising is that the music he managed to make during irregular bursts of freedom was enthralling, too. The gift was starved for the spotlight, for opportunities for performing and recording, but it flowered in the dark, became deeper and more soulful. The performances—from The Art Pepper Quartet (1952) and Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (with Miles Davis’s rhythm section) on Contemporary (1957) all the way through the recordings he made at the Village Vanguard (Contemporary, 1977) and his later recording with strings (Winter Moon, Galaxy, 1981)—are brilliant, poignant, and a joy to hear. The rigor and abandon with which he lived his life were present in every note he played.

Art Pepper died June 15, 1982 of a cerebral hemorrhage. But the 1979 publication of Straight Life and accompanying press had revived Art’s career. With Laurie’s help, he spent the last years of his life trying to make up for lost time, making each performance a life-or-death occasion, touring worldwide with his own bands, recording over a hundred albums, writing songs, winning polls, respect, and adulation.

Most of his albums are still available for sale. Laurie Pepper is releasing the best of what remains unreleased and is working on a movie based on the book, Straight Life. •

This album contains no booklet.