![]() Pepper lived for many years in the hills of Echo Park, in Los Angeles. During the mid-1970s and early 1980s he toured Europe and Japan with his own groups and recorded dozens of albums, mostly for Fantasy Records. His last comeback saw Pepper, who had started his career in Stan Kenton's big band, becoming a member of Buddy Rich's Big Band from 1968 to 1969. Remarkably, his substance abuse and legal travails did not affect the quality of his recordings, which maintained a high level of musicianship throughout his career until his death in 1982. His career was repeatedly interrupted by several prison stints stemming from his addiction to heroin, but Pepper managed to have several memorable and productive "comebacks". Representative music from this time appears on The Aladdin Recordings (three volumes), The Early Show, The Late Show, The Complete Surf Ride, and The Way It Was!, which features a session recorded with Warne Marsh. Some of Pepper's most famous albums from the 1950s are Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section, Art Pepper + Eleven - Modern Jazz Classics, Gettin' Together, and Smack Up. Along with Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan and Shelly Manne, and perhaps due more to geography than playing style, Pepper is often associated with the musical movement known as West Coast jazz, as contrasted with the East Coast (or "hot") jazz of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. By the 1950s Pepper was recognized as one of the leading alto saxophonists in jazz, finishing second only to Charlie Parker as Best Alto Saxophonist in the Down Beat magazine Readers Poll of 1952. After the war he returned to Los Angeles and joined the Kenton Innovations Orchestra. CareerĪt the age of 17 he began playing professionally with Benny Carter and then became part of the Stan Kenton orchestra, touring with that band until he was drafted in 1943. He began playing clarinet at nine, switched to alto saxophone at 13 and immediately began jamming on Central Avenue, the black nightclub district of Los Angeles. ![]() ![]() He expressed early musical interest and talent, and he was given lessons. Both were violent alcoholics, and when Art was still quite young he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother. His mother was a 14-year-old runaway his father, a merchant seaman. Īrt Pepper was born in Gardena, California, on September 1, 1925. ![]() He was known for his emotionally charged performances and several stylistic shifts throughout his career, and was described by critic Scott Yanow as "the world's great altoist" at the time of his death. A longtime figure in West coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. (Septem– June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. ![]()
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