1957 Art Pepper “The Return Of Art Pepper” on Jazz: West

I mean, what human on the planet doesn’t love this record? Late 50’s pure bop with Leroy Vinnegar and Jack Sheldon and Russ Freeman AND Shelly Manne just bursting with Left Coast style and swing, plus on the fleeting but great Jazz: West imprint (Herb Kimmel’s outfit, slyly a subsidiary of Aladdin) with cover photography by the mighty William Claxton (Read Art’s biography “Straight Life” for an insane story about the photo shoot). I posted my man Lawrence Marable last week, so now we’re on a J:W run, and it feels GOOD. Not to mention, what human on the planet was rooting against Art’s return? Especially when it’s not a clever metaphor, but he was actually just released from The Stripey Hole in California, which is otherwise known as prison? I think what I dig most about these tracks, is that DUDE IS RUSTY! Not only from not playing but from kicking dope and you can hear it in an unusual lack of fluidity in certain phrasings, because he is generally a machine, but the slight finding-of-way is fascinating and just makes him more human. For me “Minority” is the money cut, but they’re all great and mostly originals. The way that Pepper was able to rise from the utter chaos of his personal life to deliver to us this wonderful music to be thoroughly enjoyed six decades later makes me think that a minor sainthood in the old school popery style would not be completely out of the question.