The widow of the saxophonist Art Pepper, who died in 1982, has recently inaugurated a CD-reissue project to fill in the blanks of Pepper’s career with live recordings. But with “The Art History Project” (Widow’s Taste), she’s attempting something more like a very boiled down, highly subjective career retrospective, with previously unissued music as the bait. (She mentions in her liner notes that it could serve as an audio companion to Pepper’s fascinating autobiography, “Straight Life,” which she helped him write.) The set dedicates one CD to Pepper’s work from the 1950s, one to the ’60s and one to the ’70s. The early tracks float by on his urgent, vulnerable and melodic alto saxophone improvising. It’s some of the best West Coast jazz of that time, luscious pop art with a fighting spirit, from records like “Modern Art,” “The Way It Was” and “The Discovery Sessions.” The set becomes interesting in the 1960s, after Pepper’s six on-and-off years in jail, and shows his increasing respect for John Coltrane. There’s still some California buoyancy in previously unknown tracks like “Track 2,” but you hear it giving way, as if a switch were flipped, to long, scrabbling, honking phrases. Ms. Pepper lobbies hard for the ’70s as his prime period, when he had finally made it through jail, drugs and rehab, and found a synthesis of his past styles. Though the live recordings she has chosen aren’t perfect — some are with pickup bands and compromised sound — their intensity and experience they transmit is unmistakable.

Thank you, Laurie Art Pepper: The Art History Project / Unreleased Art, Vol. IV - Widow’s Taste APM 09001 - 3 CDs: Disc 1: 68:53, Disc 2: 42:35, Disc 3: 69:15 ****1/2 [Avail. CD Baby]: (Art Pepper, alto sax – playing with various artists over 31 year period (1951-1982): incl. the Stan Kenton Innovations Orchestra, Buddy Rich Big Band; with pianists – Carl Perkins, Russ Freeman, Hampton Hawes, Ronnie Ball, Claude Williamson, Frank Strazzeri, Milcho Leviev, Smith Dobson, Stanley Cowell – Horns – Jack Sheldon, Warne Marsh –bassists include: Leroy Vinnegar, Ben Tucker, Joe Mondragon, Hersh Hamel, Bob Magnusson, George Mraz – Drummers include: Shelley Manne, Chuck Flores, Larry Bunker, Carl Burnett, Ben Riley) We’ve had the pleasure of reviewing the prior three issues of unreleased Art Pepper material researched and annotated by Art’s widow, Laurie. The prior issues were from the end of Art’s career, when he was in a mad rush to outrun the grim reaper. Art knew the end was near yet his playing and passion consumed his whole being. Largely recorded overseas - Japan and England, along with his career closing concert in Washington D.C in 1982, Art was still in prime form and his passionate playing had a gut-wrenching urgency that was truly gripping. With Vol. 4 Laurie Pepper has gone for the whole enchilada - a complete introduction to Art’s entire career, from the Kenton band to “West Coast style” cool jazz in Disc 1 (Pure Art); to mid-period Pepper (post-San Quentin) when Coltrane’s influence permeated Art’s playing and an angrier aggressive mood was present on Hard Art, with Disc 2. We then return to late period Art Pepper with Disc 3 and Consummate Art, which has some unreleased surprises. The self-titled Art Pepper from the Stan Kenton Innovations Band opens Disc 1. It swings hard and Art’s solo matches the advanced big band rhythms this Kenton band had. Seven of the 17 tracks on Disc 1 come from Modern Art. Five come from Surf Ride. No unreleased tracks are found on Disc 1. Wayne Peet has done another nice job remastering this material, however. I just love Patricia, which Art wrote for his daughter - it is a beautiful ballad. Disc 2 ups the ante with six out of seven tracks previously unreleased. Just after his release from San Quentin in 1964, Art put a band together and performed on TV and in clubs. Contemporary’s Les Koenig, had no interest in Art’s post-prison harder edge material, and though allowing some recording had no interest in its release. The recording quality is not up to par, but Art completists will be fascinated with the in-your-face playing Art brings to the six unreleased tracks that feature pianist Frank Strazzeri, Hersh Hamel on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums. Coltrane’s influence is present, and Strazzeri’s bop playing is a nice counterpoint to Art’s forays. That Crazy Blues takes off with squeaks and squawks and Hamel and Goodwin keep pace admirably, with especially Hamel acquitting himself admirably. The Rich Big Band does a unique read on Chelsea Bridge to close out Disc 2 and Pepper is back with more sensual playing from a re-recording that Rich did letting Art blow hard. We begin to get back to Art’s passionate playing that consumed his later years. Chelsea Bridge got a big gale wind from this arrangement! Disc 3 may be the most interesting disc as it provides post-Synanon 1975-1982, the closing stages of Art’s career and life when he poured his passion into his playing baring his soul. All the tracks here are unreleased or had very limited exposure to the public. Ranging from venues from Japan to Paris, with Half Moon Bay’s iconic Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society, and rounding out with two live tracks from New York’s Fat Tuesday. We also have two songs from the Hollywood Sessions from 1980 that have had more exposure in the last ten years from a box set. Most of these closing seven tracks allow Art to stretch out where on their tracks together Milcho Leviev pushed Art, often hogging the proceedings to Art’s chagrin. The great Stanley Cowell, a more sympathetic accompanist is featured on two songs given extended readings, Landscape and Mambo Koyama. The rhythm section here is about as top notch as New York provided at the time - Cowell, George Mraz, and Ben Riley. Laurie feels they played too fast for the ballads and mildly up-tempo numbers but to my ears, especially on Landscape, they sound mighty fine. A return to the West Coast sound demanded by Art’s rabid Japanese fans is provided on Angel Wings and Historia de un Mor, where good friend (and wild man, still with us) Jack Sheldon provides a good foil for Art. Historia is especially moving. Every time I think the well has run dry with new Art Pepper material, Laurie Pepper finds new hidden treasures. As a companion to Art’s autobiography, Straight Life, The Art History Project provides a well rounded retrospective into the genius that was Art Pepper.May Laurie Pepper continue to surprise and please us with more Unreleased Art. For us Art Pepper completists, the more the merrier. Art Pepper lives on…. - Jeff Krow

When Straight Life came out, I had known little of Pepper's life story. But after reading the book in one sitting, I understood immediately what Pepper was trying to say with his music and where all that energy, pain and beauty came from. [On Disc 2] Dig the 11-minute So In Love featuring free jazz breaks with John Coltrane-like arpeggio showers. But this motif isn't a lift. Pepper breaks in places, allowing his former lyricism to emerge. On That Crazy Blues, there are shades of Ornette Coleman as Pepper spins and spins while developing ideas. Even if you already own some of the set's tracks on Individual albums, it's a delight to have Laurie Pepper's choices here. Just knowing that she finds these tracks meaningful and in this order make them special. The remastering by Wayne Peet is superb.

Art Pepper: "The Art History Project (Unreleased Art, Vol IV)" is the latest release from Laurie Pepper's Widow's Taste label. Laurie has been providing us with a lot of rare and formerly unavailable recordings by Art over the last few years, and this comprehensive 3CD box is no different. This is a fascinating set that features Art, from a historical perspective, in three different settings: His early days, 1951-60, when he first established his reputation as a formidable alto saxophonist on the bop jazz scene; the middle years, 1960-68, when he emerged from a long prison sentence with new ideas he hoped to put into action on the free jazz scene only to be continually mired by his own propensity towards self-destruction; and the final years, 1972-82, when Art, despite all odds, transformed his music with renewed energy and consolidation of all his concepts to create a vast body of timeless music. Disc One, "Pure Art", is Art Pepper in the early years, even at a young age definitely at the top of his game. Art performs what have now become jazz standards, but in the 1950's these songs were contemporary, some taken from Hollywood musicals and such. For me, however, it is more interesting to hear Art's original compositions, in particular the ballad in dedication to his daughter, 'Patricia'. I've heard very long and moving renditions of this song from Art's peak in the late 70's, but in the 50's the track times were, of necessity, shorter. (remember, the record companies were still looking for jazz singles in the 3 minute range) Art was able to make such a strong impression in a short song and Patricia is one heartfelt tribute, that's for certain. And then there's 'Straight Life', this version recorded in 1954 when Charlie Parker was still quite active. Parker's giant shadow was cast over the entire jazz community and there were saxophonists who gave up playing alto in those days because grappling with Bird was too much. The amazing thing about Art Pepper is, in my opinion, he'd already mastered a lot of Parker's fast runs, and 'Straight Life' certainly showcases that aspect, but even at this early point, Art is always ready to put his heart on the line and play (overtly) emotionally. Where Bird would wow an audience with his rare facility, I never heard in his work the sort of expressionist dynamics that Art portrayed. This places Art, I feel, more conclusively in the "post-bop" era, along with such altoists as Jackie McLean, or Eric Dolphy. If Art had been able to remain active throughout the 1960's, instead of behind bars or in rehab facilities, I believe he would have been just as influential as those two. The first disc I actually listened to was "Hard Art"(CD 2). Reason for this is that there have never been any recordings available, to my knowledge, from the period where Art was first doing a prison sentence and then a long stint in rehab at the Synanon Center where he later met his wife, Laurie Pepper. There had been documentation of Art's interest in John Coltrane's music, and how it had influenced him in some of the interviews I'd read, but no recordings had ever surfaced. Purportedly, and this has been substantiated by Laurie, Art even took up the tenor saxophone for a time in a sort of emulation of Coltrane. When Art got out of jail in 1964, Lester Koenig, of Contemporary Records, allowed Art to use the Contemporary recording studios to rehearse a new quartet and that rehearsal was recorded. Mr. Koenig, in his infinite wisdom, wished the tapes to be erased but somebody at the record label with more sense did not follow his wishes and saved these valuable documents, so the fact that this music survives today is remarkable! And this set is a revelation. Being very familiar with Art's renaissance period, I can hear right away that he is not using all of the same dynamics that he exhibited in his post-1972 work. No, here he's like a wildcat released from a zoo, running and running just to feel the freedom! His playing has more ragged edges, certainly on purpose, since Art could do anything he wanted to on the saxophone, and definitely could have performed well within his comfort zone if he so chose, but instead he roars out of the gate challenging himself to grapple with the jazz giants of 1964. Jazz music, in the mid-60's, was not the same world as that of Parker, Dizzy and Monk. Jazz had become increasingly abstract and expressively able to address profound personal and sociopolitical issues. But Laurie is right-on when she says that Art's music, even when he's going "out", always "swings"! Art could never release completely from his own innate sense of rhythmic content. He'd come up in the bebop clubs onstage battling with some of the greatest players in the era of Charlie Parker's immense domination and Art could never quite get those experiences out of his blood. But this is about as close as you'll get to a free-jazz Art Pepper and it's a beautiful thing. "Consummate Art" (Disc 3) starts out as such a strong validation for those prison and drug years and the music Art had been distilling inside waiting to unleash. The first track, 'Caravan', is simply stunning and may be even more free-jazz than a lot of the music on the "Hard Art" set. By this time, Art is able to move back and forth between structure and freedom in his solos to a place where every inflection, every slur, every racing flurry, they are all in servitude to the expressiveness of the piece. 'Caravan' was never meant to be played like this, but Art and the pianist, Milcho Leviev, use the number as a showcase piece to state with utmost certainty that they've encompassed all aspects of jazz history and despite how revelatory their solos are the piece still contains both the dance and exotic aspects portrayed in it by Duke Ellington version. If that's not enough for you, then comes the follow-up of Art's ballad, 'Lost Life'. Here the slow exploration of Art's own life-experience brings chills as he explains it all, lays it all out, plaintive and heartbreaking, in a language unencumbered by words. This album again reminds those of us who know, and informs those who don't yet know, that Art Pepper was one of the greatest musical expressionists EVER recorded! Art, interviewed by Downbeat in 1951, stated his ambition to be "the best jazzman in America". What strikes me about this 3 CD set is that the argument for Art having achieved his goal is laid out so conclusively. But then again you'd be preaching to the converted here since I'm one of Art's biggest fans!