Art Pepper - Straight Life (1990)

~allAboutJazz

Born: September 1, 1925 | Died: June 15, 1982 | Instrument: Alto Saxophone

Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue.

Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for his solo skills, and by 1952 he began cutting more intimate and open quartet and quintet sessions under his own name. By this time he had already developed a dependence on alcohol, pills, and heroin that led to an erratic lifestyle and (in 1952) the first of several arrests and incarcerations.

For the remainder of the decade, Pepper alternated stretches in prison with bursts of recording activity. Two of these latter occasions found him teaming productively with what was then the most prominent rhythm section of them all, Miles Davis's rhythm section: Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Jo Jones. This resulted in one of Art Pepper's greatest album Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. He also recorded two successful Blue Note albums with Chet Baker.

Pepper was always present when his East Coast colleagues visited the West Coast especially the man he came to admire greatly, John Coltrane. It was Coltrane's example that moved Pepper to become even more direct and searing in his own improvisations. Yet another arrest in 1961 and the subsequent sentence to San Quentin effectively ended Pepper's career for 15 years.

There was a brief stint playing tenor in the Buddy Rich big band in 1968, and a stay in the Synanon drug facility at around that time. Only by the mid-70s was Pepper able to put his career back on track. It was then that his renewed recording career (in 1975) and first appearances on the East Coast and in Japan ('77) brought him

the acclaim of a living legend. There was a sudden general and media interest in his life and his return, which brought new festival invitations and club performances.

In 1978 he signed with the Galaxy label which collaboration brought a stream of recordings that included some highly regarded work in which it became clear that years of physical and emotional wear and tear had aged his tone gracefully.

Pepper never fully conquered his demons, even after publication of his brutal autobiography Straight Life in 1979 and subsequent documentary films. But he was able to realize poll victories and reverent reviews as well as ambitious projects with string orchestras and intimate duets with his favourite accompanist, pianist George Cables.

EAC extraction logfile from 11. May 2008, 19:47 for CD
Art Pepper / Straight Life

Used drive : HL-DT-STCDRW/DVD GCC4482 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : C:\Eac\Codecs\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -T "comment=EAC Flac 1.1.2 -8" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface


Track 1
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\01 - Surf Ride.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 96.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9F5981B9
Copy CRC 9F5981B9
Copy OK

Track 2
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\02 - Nature Boy.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.93

Peak level 66.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7F8E254D
Copy CRC 7F8E254D
Copy OK

Track 3
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\03 - Straight Life.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:03.24

Peak level 91.3 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC ECAD093A
Copy CRC ECAD093A
Copy OK

Track 4
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\04 - September Song.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.60

Peak level 83.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AE27CE56
Copy CRC AE27CE56
Copy OK

Track 5
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\05 - Make a List (Make a Wish).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:03.76

Peak level 75.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 60F44852
Copy CRC 60F44852
Copy OK

Track 6
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\ap\06 - Long Ago and Far Away.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.82

Peak level 81.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 15A59A51
Copy CRC 15A59A51
Copy OK

No errors occured


End of status report

[CUETools log; Date: 14.11.2011 13:15:08; Version: 2.0.9]
[CTDB TOCID: y8xQlnDFso8Ak8E61xUxUy0k5bg-] found.
[ CTDBID ] Status
[0adc5245] (5/5) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 000b7bb3-003db4a4-4f0b4a06] found.
Track [ CRC ] Status
01 [e19a45fa] (04/14) Accurately ripped
02 [f88a035a] (04/14) Accurately ripped
03 [8e42c169] (04/14) Accurately ripped
04 [933517ef] (04/14) Accurately ripped
05 [5b62cbd5] (04/14) Accurately ripped
06 [01c5d1aa] (04/13) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -99:
01 [db9caff2] (02/14) Accurately ripped
02 [06a49491] (02/14) Accurately ripped
03 [817e76a1] (02/14) Accurately ripped
04 [8bf028f3] (02/14) Accurately ripped
05 [75ec009a] (02/14) Accurately ripped
06 [bd30087f] (02/13) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -98:
01 [d7e69bff] (02/14) No match but offset
02 [bda56fc8] (02/14) No match but offset
03 [1b862113] (02/14) No match but offset
04 [075f1a2e] (02/14) No match but offset
05 [5190f71c] (02/14) No match but offset
06 [c79e1e5d] (02/13) No match but offset

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 96,8 [892F7ECD] [D9303D3D]
01 96,8 [9F5981B9] [7430032F] CRC32
02 66,8 [7F8E254D] [EEAA3AC9] CRC32
03 91,3 [ECAD093A] [B8A97120] CRC32
04 83,5 [AE27CE56] [50A899D8] CRC32
05 75,9 [60F44852] [E58C20E1] CRC32
06 81,4 [15A59A51] [BDA9A078] CRC32