NOVEMBER FREEBIE: ART IN PARIS

Our first tour of Europe: 1980. This was recorded in Paris (Art said it was his favorite city). The BEAUTIFUL band is Milcho Leviev, Bob Magnusson, Carl Burnett.  

For the end of the year,

Here's a beautiful track.

If you pay me, now,

I'll pay you back....

....With NEXT YEAR'S treat: 

Hint: It's something sweet;

Not a marsh-mallow, 

But a tenor-playing fellow.

Unless you were there, you've never heard it before!

Art and Warne at Donte's in '74.

ONLY 150 CDS AVAILABLE. 5 ALTERNATE TRACKS. HISTORIC ALBUM.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE TRACKS

AND/OR BUY AT CDBABY

Only 150 cds available. 5 alternate tracks. This is truly a classic Art Pepper recording. From 1956, the vinyl albums have been bootlegged and pirated, but this recording, professionally remastered at Fantasy Records, includes 5 (five!) alternate takes. It features the profoundly great Russ Freeman along with Ben Tucker on bass, and Gary Frommer on drums.
The Story: Not long after Art's death, when I was broke, I began writing to various record labels asking for royalties which hadn't been paid. This album, made in 1956, had never paid any royalties. I wrote letters, called around, threatened, pleaded, and so on with no luck. Then, in the process of researching the murky history of West Coast jazz and blues labels, I found that the most recent purchaser of the Tampa label had filed for bankruptcy. I contacted the court and asked to purchase this album. Somehow, I found out where the Tampa masters were stored, went to that warehouse, asking (Art's producer) Ed Michel to come along.We picked up ancient tapes, masters, mothers.  They wanted to sell me the whole catalog including the Charlie Parker Records catalog. But like I said, I was broke. I was able to buy this master only. Somebody came along the next day and bought all the Tampa stuff. He called me and said one title was missing, could he buy it from me. No, says I, "I own Tampa 20."  I've licensed it to Fantasy/Concord and others. It's one of my very favorites of Art's albums. And not because I own it. Because it's beautiful.

P.S. I realize most serious AP fans already own this album, but it's sooo worth posting.

FREEBIE: Art's 90th: 2 TRACKS

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY; THEN IT'LL BE GONE! 

Art Pepper was born on September 1, 1925. In honor of his 90th birthday, I'm giving away TWO never-before-published tracks from a fabulous concert:

 In 1981 Art made his last tour of Japan with George Cables, David Williams, and Carl Burnett. Every gig was great. These TWO TRACKS, YES TWO! were recorded in Minano. Someday I'll have it all remastered and release the whole concert. But meanwhile, here you are, just in time for ART'S 90TH. Everything Happens to Me_AND_Straight Life!

P.S. The WEBSITE is brand new. Click here & Hear Art's voice, his music, lotsa photos, lots of info.

P.P.S. AND THIS!

www.omnivorerecordings.com/artpeppersale

P.P.P.S. AND THEN THERE'S THIS....

Art Pepper was the muthafuckin' bomb. He played the saxophone like a fallen angel and wrote, with MsLaurie Pepper, one...
Posted by Jason Crane on Tuesday, September 1, 2015

It's My Party: MORE Repossessed Art Pepper!

It's my happy birthday month so I've got a present for everybody. Last month (was it last month?) I gave away the Art Pepper/Hampton Hawes Surf Club "Early Show" for $4.50.* This month I've got "The Late Show." Same price. I explained that the original issuer of these discs has never paid mechanicals for the great original tunes Art played that night at the Surf Club. So here you go.

*I'd like to add that I'm hoping to get a new completely UNRELEASED Art CD out by Spring of next year, 2016. And, unless something really spectacular lands on my doorstep in the next few months, it'll be Art Pepper and Warne Marsh. So if you can, please support the music by paying as much as is convenient for the freebies and the cheapo tracks and albums. THANKS.

P.S. Didn't he have the prettiest tone in the whole world? Yes. He did.
P.P.S. During the next few days I'm going to be "un-freeing" a lot of the freebies from previous months. So if you want to clean up, NOWSTHETIME

June 15, 1982: Art Lives

In honor of this day, a free download. Art Pepper, George Cables.
FREE FOR 3 DAYS

COMING FROM WIDOW'S TASTE???

If I can get all my little ducks in a row, this and MUCH MUCH MORE OF THE SAME will be the next release. (P.S. Am delerious with JOY!)

MAY FREEBIE: ART PEPPER AND BLUE MITCHELL

ART PEPPER & BLUE MITCHELL 1975

Art Pepper, Blue Mitchell. A recent discovery! From 1975. Suspect this was recorded at Donte's in North Hollywood. Piano: Lou Levy; Bass: Buddy Clark; Drums: Lew Malin. It's incomplete (no head) & there's bleed-through on the tape, but it's NICE & it's RARE! There's lots more music from this session, and if it can be doctored a bit, maybe it'll be an eventual release.

Not-Quite-Freebie for the Cruelest Month: Arthur's Blues

Here's a Blues for a month I've been sick in.

Cause this tune makes my draggy pulse quicken.

If I'm sick or I'm sad, the blues make me GLAD

I'm alive! I won't stop. I'll keep tickin'

MARCH FREEBIE COMES IN LIKE A ROARING LION

A rare recording of Art Pepper during the transitional "Coltrane" phase that led him to create the richest music of his career (1974-1982) and inspired critic Gary Giddins to label that music "a touchstone for the very aesthetics of jazz music." If you want the WHOLE TRACK, just the music, click on BUY NOW and enter zero (though you can always leave a dollar or so in the tip jar to encourage a continuing flow of unreleased Art Pepper!)

This short video is a glimpse at a longer video artwork based on the stories in Straight Life: the Story of Art Pepper by Art and Laurie Pepper. That short movie is a work in progress. It includes a number of jazz performances from all the stages of Art's career, and Art Pepper's voice (as recorded by Laurie Pepper when she interviewed him for Straight Life) provides the narration. The enacted sequences feature James Intveld and Lisa Joffrey as Art and his wife Diane. Laurie is played by Tracy Middendorf.

You may download or embed this video for FREE. I've forced it to this small size for the moment. It may be available bigger later! CLICK ON THE LITTLE V (lower right hand corner)

to download the video from VIMEO.



If you want to see the video FULL size and hear George Cables, David Williams, and Carl Burnett playing Art's charts with numerous sax-ists, SEE BELOW (& click on the flyer for details).

I skipped January, but February's Freebie is definitely worth waiting for

First, I know!  Most hardcore AP fans already have this whole album.
But think of all those poor souls who don't!
So here it is: (P.S. to get it, click on "buy" and, on the new page, scroll down to "Diane," click "buy" and you'll have the option to download it for free)


The Story: Not long after Art's death, when I was broke, I began writing to various record labels asking for royalties which hadn't been paid. This album, made in 1956, had never paid any royalties at all. Ever. Yet it was selling everywhere. I wrote letters, called around, threatened, pleaded, and so on with no luck. Then, in the process of researching the murky history of west coast jazz and blues labels, I found that the most recent owner of the Tampa label had filed for bankruptcy. I contacted the court and asked to purchase this album. Through them, I found out where the Tampa masters were stored, went to that warehouse, asking Ed Michel to come along.We picked up rusty, dusty ancient tapes, masters, mothers.  They wanted to sell me the whole catalog including the Charlie Parker Records catalog. But. like I said, I didn't have much money. I bought this master. Somebody came along the next day and bought all the rest of the Tampa stuff. He called me and said one title was missing (THIS album), could he buy it from me. No, says I, "I now own Tampa 20."  Over the years I've licensed it to Fantasy/Concord and others. It's one of my very favorites of Art's albums. And not because I own it. Because it's beautiful.

And I'm giving away the PRETTIEST thing, Diane. A song Art wrote for his second wife.

I'm attaching a video including this tune. The video is part of a bigger video based on Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepperwhich includes Art's voice narrating and Art's music. If you're around L.A. on March 27th, I'll be showing about a half an hour of the work in progress. Meanwhile here's just a 4 minute sample (which still needs work!)Art is living with Diane, but he's still in love with his ex wife, Patti. Diane attempts suicide..

DIANE from Laurie Pepper on Vimeo.