Art Pepper: Promise Kept – The Complete Artists House Recordings is a five CD boxed set.
Art Pepper’s widow Laurie Pepper put these recordings into perspective:
"Art had had a brilliant career as a jazz soloist and band leader until the mid-1950s, when he started using heroin. After that, incarcerations and treatments in prisons and hospitals kept him off the stages and out of the studios. He was only able to record sporadically until he got (relatively) sober in Synanon in 1972 and married — me. Then in the last ten years of his life he composed recorded and toured more ambitiously than ever before, focused on securing his place among the true jazz greats — where he knew he belonged."Producer John Snyder had long wished to record Art, and to that end, booked him into a week at the Village Vanguard in New York. But Art was under contract to Contemporary Records label, whose head honcho, Les Koenig opted to record the stint himself. Art, however, remained committed to recording for Snyder, the result of which was four albums recorded in 1979 and released in the ensuing years.
The albums that make up 'Promise Kept – The Complete Artists House Recordings' are the original releases: 'So in Love', 'Artworks', 'New York Album', 'Stardust' plus a bonus CD titled 'Sessions'. All albums have all been remastered and expanded for this release, while an additional 11 session takes appear on the bonus album.
As for the title 'Promise Kept', Laurie Pepper explains:
"John and Art both kept their promises. John brought Art into the wider world; he put him on the road. Just as he said he would, he brought him to New York and to the Village Vanguard, got his picture in the papers, got him on the radio. From Art, John got his dearest wish. He made these recordings."
The freeload is 24bit/44.1kHz, and it sounds sweet.
For the freeload, tell us what was the very first album you owned? (LP, CD, Cassette, whatever you had)
In 1962, I was 15 years old, and The Four Seasons album “Sherry & 11 Others” was huge in my Brooklyn high school. I had the 45s of "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Sherry". My older brother gave me the album for Christmas ’62.
ReplyDeleteI think it was The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy vs The Red Baron.
ReplyDeleteBut it might have been my Soupy Sales albums.
The GREAT Soupy Sales!!!
DeleteIn '64 (I was 10) my family gifted me a copy of Duane Eddy's "Twistin' & Twangin' ", I think the first LP I bought with my own money was the Beach Boys "Summer Days (and Summer Nights)".
ReplyDeleteMy mom worked at the collage. CSULA. The collage radio station was clearing out old stock. Take one each. Mom knew my brother and I liked Steppenwolf. She brought home Steppenwolf 7. I still like that one. (along with Steppenwolf 2nd)
ReplyDeletePretty sure it was The Beatles blue album 67-70 about a year after it came out.
ReplyDeleteFirst lp was the 1st Beatles US release, which I got as a kid. Had 45s before then which was mostly NO rnb recordings, like Fats Domino, Robert Parker, Lee Dorsey. Played all of them on one of those all in one box phonographs, which included the speaker. It was my aunt's and I used to love to listen to records with her, so she gave it to me when she bought a proper stereo system.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather bought me Surfer Girl on a whim. The first I bought with my own money was Happy Jack ($2.99 as it was in mono - stereo would've been $3.99!)
ReplyDeleteBachman Turner Overdrive - Not Fragile. My older sister gifted me her Emerson stereo (all in one receiver, turntable) and this album was left on top. After that I bought a lot of bootlegs at a local "head-shop".
ReplyDeleteFirst album- Meet the Beatles. First 45 single- Pretty Woman-Orbison
ReplyDeleteFoggy memory, but I believe it was the soundtrack for Hair, the Broadway play. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteAgain, not positive but I'm pretty sure that after purchasing an album or 2, I decided that joining the Columbia House Record club was the way to go. Get 12 right off the bat and then agree to buy (I forget, maybe 5 in the next 2 years) to complete your obligation, Something like that, anyway to the mind of a teenager it sounded like a good deal, and a way to SAVE money while spending money. Yeah, I know. Thanks Babs
DeleteFirst LP I bought was by the Buggs- a cheapo Beatles/"Liverpool sound" rip-off. I think it was about $1.99 at the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall the first, but the second or third must have been Chuck Berry's On Stage...
ReplyDeleteI shoplifted the first LP I owned, Elvis' Golden Records. Before that I mostly bought and occasionally filched 45s—my preferred format. Today, though, I've managed to accumulate thousands of LPs, in part thanks to my father's vast and varied collection. I only fire up the turntable occasionally nowadays; the digital alternatives are far too convenient and enticing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Art Pepper, Babs. I don't think the guy ever fully recognized his own lyricism. If you believe his autobiography as well as Laurie Pepper's memoir, the music came incredibly easily to him. I was privileged to see him a good bit in the 70s, and despite a jaundiced pallor and sunken eyes, Art would create chorus after chorus of beautifully conceived solos that indeed seemed effortless.
I lifted the Stones' first (US) album, 'England's Newest Hit Makers'. My local record bought used albums, so I tried to sell them, to get a cheaper album. The guy behind the counter didn't want my albums, and in front of other customers, he told me my taste in music was crap. So on the way out I picked up 'England's Newest Hit Makers', and when no one was looking, I put it in the middle of my albums, and walked out.
DeleteArt was a genius!
DeleteImagine what he could have done, had his career not been so impacted by his inner demons. Great comp. I already have it, but this is a huge sonic boost. Many thanks, Babs. Btw - Carminho has a great, new, ep out, that includes a duet with Caetano Veloso. Return to form after that horrid rock record she released this summer.
DeleteYou're welcome, and enjoy pmac.
DeleteThank you for the heads-up on the new Carminho EP!
Link
ReplyDelete1https://workupload.com/file/yW89khLsEmZ
Link 2
https://workupload.com/file/xXkyGn5BSFy
Link 3
https://workupload.com/file/AAc3GZs8u6a
I like to think it was Alice Cooper Million Dollar Babies but truthfully the first was a MFP copy of Oliver the Stage version I can still sing all the songs....'In this life one thing counts in the banks large ammounts.....Lionel Bart was a genius and a hedonistic madman to rival Nilsson.
ReplyDelete♫ Consider yourself at home
DeleteConsider yourself one of the family
We've taken to you so strong
It's clear we're going to get along♫
Davey Jones at his best. The Monkee not the Bowie.
DeleteMom & Dad would buy albums of plays they saw. I
Deletecould still probably sing along to Calamity
Jane or Peter Pan.
Nobody tries to be law-di-dah and uppity
ReplyDeleteThere's a cuppa tea for all
Sometimes in the late Sixties I 'adopted' The World Of Tommy Steele. I was 9 (I liked his films) and persuaded my parents to buy the second volume of it for me when it came out. A couple of years after I began buying regularly with T.Rex's Electric Warrior and Slider quickly followed by Ziggy Stardust and then it was Billion Dollar Babies and Aladdin Sane.
ReplyDeleteAhh, glam rock. My high school days. Enjoyed that music.
DeleteHave Twangy Guitar, Will Travel. Still holds up pretty well.
ReplyDeleteOn the sessions disc, the track Lover Man, Art on his own, is stunningly, hauntingly beautiful and so full of soul. Reminiscent of Bird, (for sure, an inspiration) yet still Art all the way. Thanks for this fantastic share Babs
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it mumbles. More unreleased Art is forthcoming.
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