Art Pepper, legendary alto sax player, is known as one of the greatest jazz artists of his generation. But he always soared far beyond the dated categories of swing and be-bop in his lyricism, technical brilliance, soulfulness, and solid, down-home raunchy sweetness.
As Art's widow and his fan, I hate seeing a generation growing up ignorant of his music. His commercial albums are consigned to the "vaults" of record companies fighting to keep current, and there's nothing I can do about it.
But there is something I can do about the non-commercial stuff. There is gorgeous material at large which remains unreleased and un-heard or else released in careless pirated recordings featuring inaccurate information and poor sound quality. These pirated recordings are a boon, because the music is at least available. But they are really annoying on many levels. As Art's beneficiary he supposed I'd be entitled to a "taste," of anything released after his death. We're talking about jazz here, though, and a taste, the "Widow's Taste" I'm after is bound to be small. But legally, the tracks belong to me, and the satisfactions of putting them into the world have been huge.
I get to plough through a lot of great music and memories: documents and photos, and remaster all the tracks, so they sound like they ought to. The albums are beautiful, I think, to look at and to hear. And in my notes, I try to make the listener feel (s)he's there with me and the band and the crowd at each specific gig. I hear great things from fans (read some of the reviews at CD Baby for Volume 1 which has been out since December '06), and I'm acquiring more music from collectors who managed to tape concerts and club dates. The next release, Croyden, which came to me from a collector, will be spectacular -- and I'll get it out somehow.
So this is "Widow's Taste." And what I'm doing here, is:
-I'm introducing truly unreleased and unheard Art to people who love him and want to hear him.
-I'm introducing Art Pepper to people who thought they knew what jazz was (incomprehensible bebop), so they can correct that awful impression and fill their lives with soulful beauty.
-I'm introducing Art Pepper to people who thought they knew what jazz was (Kenny G) and didn't like it. If you like Kenny G, just go away. There's nothing for you here.
Widow's Taste is releasing a series of previously unreleased Art Pepper material. Volumes I and 2 are available now!
Purchase Volume 1:
The Abashiri Concert
Purchase Volume 2: The Last Concert
Listen! COMING SOON! The Art Pepper Quartet: The Croyden Concert
Listen to some tracks.
Listen and Buy at iTunes
Volume 1
Volume 2
The Concord releases.
Great, comprehensive Art Pepper site.
Art Pepper at Amazon Music.