Art Pepper - The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions (1977) [1995]

Devoted fans of alto saxophonist Art Pepper share a fascination with Chet Baker fans. They find Pepper's excesses, so flatly confessed in his autobiography, Straight Life, great fodder for intense listening–which they are. Pepper had a rare talent for playing as if his horn were a lens on his torment. He played cushioned, cool melodies in the California jazz heyday and then went off to prison and hardscrabble years as an infamous heroin addict. By the time he performed the music on this massive nine-CD set, Pepper had made several comebacks, the latest of which was heroic–if fueled by chemicals and a furious need to prove himself during the Vanguard gigs caught here uninterrupted. The music bristles, whether in the pretty anguish of a solo-sax "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or the numerous mad-charging bop heads Pepper tackles as if they were his last meals. He makes an ass of himself with some of the between-song banter, but it's all part of the big picture. For all the thorns and warts and complications, that picture shows unabated, undiluted, and unquenchable musical chops to burn here. The liner essay tells the whole sordid tale of Pepper gone from prison to a halfway house to a late-1970s rebound that urged some of his best music. If this lavish box, with its repetitions of tunes (all the takes, however, differ radically) is too much, try the individual volumes.



Tracks:



Disc 1
1. [spoken introduction] (1:00)
2. Blues for Heard (12:22)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:40)
4. Scrapple From the Apple (11:36)
5. [spoken introduction] (0:15)
6. But Beautiful (10:55)
7. [spoken introduction] (0:22)
8. My Friend John (9:40)
9. [spoken introduction] (0:30)
10. Cherokee (16:36)
11. Blues for Heard (5:51)


Disc 2
1. [spoken introduction] (1:40)
2. For Freddie (14:31)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:47)
4. Valse triste (11:26)
5. [spoken introduction] (0:22)
6. Live at the Vangaurd (18:54)
7. [spoken introduction] (0:20)
8. Caravan (16:59)
9. Blues for Heard (2:29)



Disc 3
1. [spoken introduction] (0:26)
2. Over the Rainbow (6:51)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:29)
4. The Trip (12:37)
5. Blues for Les (11:57)
6. A Night in Tunisia (9:02)


Disc 4
1. [spoken introduction] (1:26)
2. No Limit (13:33)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:12)
4. Valse triste (12:22)
5. [spoken introduction] (0:46)
6. My Friend John (11:43)
7. [spoken introduction] (0:26)
8. You Go to My Head (12:15)
9. Cherokee (16:03)
10. Blues for Heard (4:19)



Disc 5
1. Count-Off / Blues for Heard (18:40)
2. Anthropology (14:37)
3. These Foolish Things (8:53)
4. For Freddie (12:49)
5. Blues for Heard (5:37)


Disc 6
1. [spoken introduction] (1:18)
2. Las Cuevas de Mario (14:29)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:12)
4. Stella by Starlight (17:50)
5. [spoken introduction] (0:15)
6. Goodbye (14:39)
7. [spoken introduction] (0:15)
8. Vanguard Max (13:50)
9. Blues for Heard (3:26)



Disc 7
1. Count-Off / Vanguard Max (12:43)
2. [spoken introduction] (0:39)
3. Las Cuevas de Mario (11:20)
4. [spoken introduction] (0:59)
5. Goodbye (12:15)
6. [spoken introduction] (0:27)
7. For Freddie (10:41)
8. Blues for Heard (6:49)


Disc 8
1. [announcement and false start] (0:55)
2. My Friend John (12:35)
3. [spoken introduction] (0:44)
4. More for Les (16:14)
5. Cherokee (21:04)
6. Blues for Heard (6:56)



Disc 9
1. Count-Off / For Freddie (9:21)
2. More for Les (9:34)
3. Caravan (13:55)
4. Labyrinth (12:35)
5. My Friend John (9:07)


Personnel:

Art Pepper - tenor and alto saxophones, clarinet
George Cables - piano
George Mraz - bass
Elvin Jones - drums