Every month

Every month I'll post a new "taste" of Art Pepper's music as a FREE DOWNLOAD. These tastes are given away because they are "unreleasable" by virtue of the recording being cut off at beginning or end or by brief audio problems that occurred in the recording process.

THEY'RE TOO STUNNING TO HIDE AWAY IN MY FILES AS YOU'LL SOON SEE.

I'll also post occasional journal entries including updates on new releases.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

For the cognoscenti or the just plain curious


In November, as many of you know, a new Art Pepper set will be released by me, by which I mean, Widow's Taste Records. All the recordings I release as Widow's Taste have never been released before or have only been released and crummy bootlegs. I do my very best to give you the best quality recordings I can. "Volume Ten, "Bourbon Street, Toronto 1977", like all those that have gone before (except for Volume 1), has been mastered by Wayne Peet.

 Wayne is a musician with a lifetime in jazz, an understanding of what an Art Pepper performance ought to sound like, and an unerring ear for what's messed up in the aged tapes I bring him. Thanks to Rocco Bertels, who found more than one medium onto which this night at Bourbon Street was recorded, I was able to give Wayne some cassettes AND two reel to reel tapes from which to pick and choose, and actually, mostly, the cassettes were of better quality, though not always.*

*And I apologize for that last sentence. I'm writing fast.

 So I just want to show you guys how hard Wayne works to make sure the Unreleased Art Pepper series is as good as it can be (and invariably much better than bootlegs or online downloads).

And at the same time, I can procrastinate the writing of the liner notes! Win! Win!

 Here's what Wayne did:


Art Pepper - Bourbon Street, Toronto 
June 16, 1977

7” reel / 7.5 IPS / Stereo 2 sides [4 track]

transfer TEAC 3340S / MOTU 2408 Mk2 / Digital Performer 7.24 / 44.1k / 24 bit WAV
transfer appears to be a little sharp

Art Pepper - Alto
Bernie Senensky - Piano
Dave Piltch or Gene Perla* - Bass
Terry Clarke - Drums

1. A Song For Richard — one tape dropout√
2. Long Ago & Far Away - some sax squeaks√
3. Here’s That Rainy Day - some sax squeaks
4. Theme [end of set] Blues For Herd, - some sax squeaks,  sax off mic during end of out head
band intros by Art…..
*5. What Is This Thing Called Love -   some sax squeaks, sax off mic during 2nd half of solo, comes back just bef end of solo
*6. All The Things You Are [beg] [

Side 2
*1. All The Tings You Are [concl.]
Art raps with audience…band intros….
*2. The Summer Knows
*3. I’ll Remember April
*4. Theme
*5. Samba Mom-Mom

cassette only:
6. Star Eyes



=============
mastering notes
Cassette +14 cents / Reel  -18 cents
A1 A Song For Richard (16:52)
used cassette version
cleaned out some low thumps on R Ch in soft parts
cleaned a few sax squeaks
fixed drum stick hit, missing bass note, R Ch dropout, glass tinkling in quiet spot, PA feedback
edited to applause from reel did less quick of a fade as was on cassette

A2 Long Ago & Far Away (13:22)
used cassette version
cleaned out some low thumps on R Ch in soft parts
cleaned a few sax squeaks
fixed a couple of minor tape dropouts
edited to applause from reel did less quick of a fade as was on cassette

A3 Here’s That Rainy Day (10:17)
used cassette version
cleaned out some low thumps on R Ch in soft parts
cleaned a few sax squeaks, clanks & coughs in audience, PA feedback
fixed a couple of minor tape dropouts
edited to applause from reel did less quick of a fade as was on cassette

A4 Blues For Heard (4:16)
used cassette version
cleaned out some low thumps on R Ch in soft parts
cleaned a few sax squeaks, PA feedback
fixed a couple of minor tape dropouts
fixed missing bass note on 1st note of tune
either AP off mic, or mic cuts off from end phrase of the 1st of 2 out heads.
copied phrase from end of in head, and cut out the 2nd out head, went right to the ending, did some work to boost the alto in the outro [it’s better but still too soft]

A5 What Is This Thing Called Love? (15:37)
mostly the cassette, went to the reel during the 2nd part of the sax solo, because the volume of the sax dipped worse on the cassette
cleaned a few sax squeaks, PA feedback
fixed a couple of minor tape dropouts
after the bass solo, the bass is way too loud, and the piano is way too soft.
Did some work in RX as well as the mastering to help, the solution is to have a lot less lows from that point, which is not great but better than the bass blasting too much.

A6-B1 All The Things You Are (16:59)
intro cut off [on both cass & reel] edit for 1st phrase, reel for 1st note of 2nd phrase of intro [missing on cass] - cass for remainder
fixed a number of tape dropouts
fixed noises, PA feedback, missing attacks on piano notes in solo, rattles in bass during solo
AP off mic during 2nd half of solo, and beginning of traces - did some stuff to help

B2a The Summer Knows preamble (2:20)
used cassette / edited out the long pauses & repeats

B2b The Summer Knows (16:50)
used cassette / fixed sax squeaks, tape drop outs, noises
one missing piano attack fixed

B3 I’ll Remember April  (14:30) -complete time with B3& B4
mostly cassette until it cuts off just before the end, cut to the reel [which as this point is pretty distorted]
Fixed tape dropouts, PA feedback, sax squeaks
Fixed sax one note FS into head out of intro
made talking during bass solo less

B4 - Theme - Blues For Heard - fades out
Reel only - it starts right out of the end of April

B5 Samba Mom-Mom  (17:40)
used cassette
fixed sax squeaks, tape drop outs, talking during intro, bass solo, applause

B6 Star Eyes   12:38
fixed tape drop outs, 

============
06-26-17
Barcode 191061850830
RCS
See below.  See also attached Excel list

Tape
TRACK NO.
Tune
BAND
ISRC
Time
Bourbon Street reel side one [used cass]
Disk A1
A Song for Richard
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Dave Piltch
QZ95F1700001
Time 16:52
[used cass]
A2
Long Ago and Far Away
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Dave Piltch
QZ95F1700002
Time 13:22
[used cass]
A3
Here's That Rainy Day
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Dave Piltch
QZ95F1700003
Time 10:17
[used cass]
A4
 Blues for Heard
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Dave Piltch
QZ95F1700004
Time 4:16
[used cass & reel]
A5
What Is This Thing Called Love?
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700005
Time 15:37 Disk A total 1:00:38
split between side one & two, filled out with cassette version
Disk B1
All The Things You Are
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700006
Time 16:59
Bourbon Street reel side two [used cass]
B2
Band Intros
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700012
Time 2:20
[used cass]
B3
The Summer Knows
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700008
Time 16:50
[used reel & cass]
B4
I'll Remember April
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700007
Time 14:30 Disk B total 50:50
[used cass]
Disk C1
Samba Mom - Mom
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Gene Perla
QZ95F1700009
Time 17:40
Cassette only
C2
Star Eyes
Bernie Senensky, Terry Clark, Dave Piltch
QZ95F1700010
Time 12:26

C3
Art Pepper Interview
Hal Hill
QZ95F1700011
Time 32:59 Disk C total 1:03:12

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Cruel April and Merry May have passed with NO FREEBIES! But take heart!

Because it's June, June, June! 
And it's bustin' out all over,
And to celebrate the summer,
Here's a FREEBIE!
Here's a TUNE!


This is the latest FREEBIE. A Blue Mitchell composition, another riff on I Got Rhythm.  
Art Pepper and Blue Mitchell worked together a LOT during the mid seventies. Jack Sheldon brought them together by hiring both to accompany him during a regular summer gig in Monterey—While Jack sang, told jokes. Usually Dolo Coker played piano at that gig. Those were lovely sets. BUT this is not from those sessions. I really don't know where these tracks are from (and yes, there are MORE). I've perused the old calendars and I've found no info. 
MEANWHILE: A new album, a stunning, energetic, unusual 3 disc set, will be released by Widow's Taste in November. If you haven't supported The Cause lately, please do donate? To help finance manufacture of said set? If you recently have dropped some cash in the hat, or if you can't, of course this track is FREE FREE FREE. At least for a while.


AND MEANWHILE, (while you're on the bandcamp site), there's a two disc set is available for download for $7.00 at 

https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/album/art-pepper-live-in-usa-2-discs