Artist:Art Pepper
Song:Straight Life
Album:Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section
Art Pepper is another great jazz musician whose talent is overshadowed by his personal demons. But the alto saxophonist was a big part of the Los Angeles jazz scene and he made some memorable music. He was born Sept. 1, 1925 in Gardena, CA. After coming out of the military in 1946 he spent several years with the Stan Kenton band. By the mid 50s he had spent a couple of years in jail for drug offenses. But when he wasn't in jail he made some great records including Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section in 1957. Pepper had not met any of the musicians beforehand and he showed up late so he never rehearsed with them before the session. So this was a true jam session with Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. This is probably the one Art Pepper CD you should get. It was originally on Contemporary Records and rereleased as part of Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics series. Pepper spent a lot of the 60s in jail and wound up at the Synanon rehab clinic in Los Angeles. It was there he met his wife Laurie and she helped straighten him out. He made some great records for Galaxy Records in the 70s. Art Pepper wrote his autobiography Straight Life in 1977 and died on June 1, 1982 at age 56. That brings me to this video clip. Art Pepper's widow Laurie has been attempting to adapt Straight Life to the screen for many years. After not having much luck with Hollywood studios, she enlisted the help of veteran jazz filmmaker Don McGlynn. The result is the documentary Straight Life and this clip is the beginning of the film narrated by Laurie Pepper.
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