Art Pepper – Promise Kept: The Complete Artists House Recordings (2019) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Here for the first time are the complete ‘Artists House’ sessions including 21 previously unissued takes. The original albums drawn from these sessions, ‘So In Love’, ‘Artworks’, ‘New York Album’, and ‘Stardust’, have been remastered and expanded with additional takes.

Saxophonist Art Pepper’s career was in its final comeback phase in 1979 when he accepted producer John Snyder’s invitation to record an album on his fledgling Artists House label. A West Coast jazz star in the ’50s, Pepper had suffered from bouts with drug abuse and subsequent incarceration that left him largely marginalized by the ’70s. However, after going through rehab and meeting his wife and manager Laurie Pepper, he enjoyed a fruitful late-career resurgence. It is that resurgent period that is showcased on Omnivore’s superb 2019 anthology Promise Kept: The Complete Artists House Recordings. Produced by Laurie Pepper and Omnivore founder Cheryl Pawleski, Promise Kept brings together all of the tracks the saxophonist recorded for Artists House including for 1980’s So in Love, The New York Album, Artworks, and Stardust, all of which were later released in the mid-’80s on Galaxy Records. Also included are over 20 previously unreleased takes culled from the original sessions. All of these tracks came out of separate 1979 sessions: one in New York with bassist Ron Carter, pianist Hank Jones, and drummer Al Foster, and several in Los Angeles with pianist George Cables, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. Purportedly, there was some tension between Art and the New York guys in part due to tempo choices. Consequently, tracks like “Yesterday” and Pepper’s own “Diane” off So in Love, have a nervous electricity that makes them compelling decades later. More relaxed are the West Coast tracks off So in Love, including “Blues for Blanche” and “Stardust,” which find Pepper striking a balance between his classic West Coast lyricism and his late-career love of bluesy, Coltrane-influenced lines. The rest of the sessions follow accordingly as Pepper spars his way through nervy renditions of “A Night in Tunisia,” “Straight, No Chaser,” and his own “My Friend John” on the New York Album. Conversely, the Los Angeles dates that make up Artworks and Stardust are more relaxed, featuring buoyant takes of “Desafinado” and a rare clarinet performance of “Anthropology.” There are also several solo tracks featured throughout the collection including fluid, bop-inflected takes on “Body and Soul” and “You Go to My Head” off Artworks, and a starkly soulful reading of “In a Mellow Tone” on the previously unreleased Sessions disc. As with much of Pepper’s later work, the Artists House sessions are marked by his earthy lyricism and hardwon soulfulness; a sound borne out of his decades-long descent into drug addiction and a renewed desire to again prove his mettle alongside the jazz greats. Tragically, he died only three years after making these recordings, leaving Laurie Pepper to issue the bulk of these tracks posthumously. Promise Kept is a testament to their comeback achievement. ~ Matt Collar

Tracklist

1. Art Pepper – Straight, No Chaser (Take 3) [06:23]
2. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche [06:47]
3. Art Pepper – So In Love [11:31]
4. Art Pepper – Diane [12:18]
5. Art Pepper – Stardust [10:33]
6. Art Pepper – Yesterdays (Take 2 Bonus Track) [08:13]
7. Art Pepper – Landscape (Bonus Track) [09:28]
8. Art Pepper – Straight, No Chaser (Take 4 Bonus Track) [08:07]
9. Art Pepper – Body And Soul [04:40]
10. Art Pepper – Anthropology (Take 2) [06:36]
11. Art Pepper – Desafinado (Take 2) [08:04]
12. Art Pepper – Donna Lee [05:59]
13. Art Pepper – You Got To My Head [06:02]
14. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche (Alternate A) [07:30]
15. Art Pepper – Desafinado (Take 1 Bonus Track) [11:25]
16. Art Pepper – Anthropology (Take 1 Bonus Track) [05:53]
17. Art Pepper – Donna Lee (Alternate A Bonus Track) [06:12]
18. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche (Alternate B Bonus Track) [08:16]
19. Art Pepper – You Go To My Head (Alternate A Bonus Track) [04:22]
20. Art Pepper – A Night in Tunisia (Take 2) [09:47]
21. Art Pepper – Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be) [05:43]
22. Art Pepper – Straight, No Chaser (Take 2) [05:58]
23. Art Pepper – Duo Blues [07:54]
24. Art Pepper – My Friend John [09:43]
25. Art Pepper – Johnny’s Blues [05:17]
26. Art Pepper – A Night In Tunisia (Take 1 Bonus Track) [08:48]
27. Art Pepper – Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be) [Clarinet] [Bonus Track] [03:14]
28. Art Pepper – Straight, No Chaser (Take 1 Bonus Track) [06:16]
29. Art Pepper – My Friend John (Alternate B Bonus Track) [07:23]
30. Art Pepper – My Friend John (Alternate A) [07:48]
31. Art Pepper – Tin Tin Deo [11:05]
32. Art Pepper – Stardust (Alternate A) [08:43]
33. Art Pepper – In A Mellow Tone (Take 2) [08:36]
34. Art Pepper – Art’s Sweet Blues (Bonus Track) [03:54]
35. Art Pepper – But Beautiful (Take 1 Bonus Track) [03:21]
36. Art Pepper – You Go To My Head (Alternate B Bonus Track) [02:56]
37. Art Pepper – Yesterdays (Take 3 Bonus Track) [07:06]
38. Art Pepper – Stardust (Alternate B Bonus Track) [12:13]
39. Art Pepper – In A Mellow Tone (Take 1 Bonus Track) [10:06]
40. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche (Alternate C Bonus Track) [06:16]
41. Art Pepper – Yesterdays (Take 1 Bonus Track) [07:38]
42. Art Pepper – My Friend John (Take 1 – Long False Start Bonus Track) [05:34]
43. Art Pepper – My Friend John (Take 2 – False Start Bonus Track) [02:00]
44. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche (Alternate D Bonus Track) [06:03]
45. Art Pepper – Stardust (Long False Start Bonus Track) [04:17]
46. Art Pepper – Donna Lee (Alternate B Bonus Track) [07:30]
47. Art Pepper – But Beautiful (Take 2 Bonus Track) [03:51]
48. Art Pepper – A Night In Tunisia (Take 3 Bonus Track) [09:34]
49. Art Pepper – Blues For Blanche (Alternate E Bonus Track) [06:47]
50. Art Pepper – Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be) [Alternate Sax Take] [Bonus Track] [05:21]