Art Pepper - Intensity
List Price:
Our Price: $6.66
You Save: $5.32 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Art PepperEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1991-07-01
Music Label: Ojc
Soundtracks:
- I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
- I Love You
- Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Long Ago (And Far Away)
- Gone With The Wind
- I Wish On The Moon
- Too Close For Comfort
- Five Points
Music reviews of Intensity
Music Review: End of chapter one
Rating: 5 Stars
This album marks the famous divide in Pepper's career. It was recorded in 1960 just after Pepper was busted for narcotics & before he was sent to San Quentin for 6 years (read his autobiography _Straight Life_ for a gripping account); Les Koenig, owner of Contemporary Records, raised some bail & quickly arranged this session. (Pepper notes in his book that because this was the last album he recorded for Contemporary, Koenig stockpiled it for a few years--it was released in 1963.) The album features the ubiquitous West Coast rhythm section of Jimmy Bond on bass & the redoubtable Frank Butler on drums--they had already featured on his previous album, _Smack Up_, recorded only a month before. This time, however, the pianist was Dolo Coker, a little-celebrated pianist who proves entirely compatible. (Coker--real first name Charles--later reunited with Butler & Pepper for Coker's 1978 Xanadu album _California Hard_.) The material, because of the circumstances, was easily-picked standards, many of which Pepper had recorded before; yet the date is anything but routine. Pepper was a "West Coast player", a term which often carries a subtext of derision--of overly polite, too-slick jazz, lacking the intensity & drive of the music coming out of Chicago, New York, &c. Such stereotypes are easily demolished: Pepper was, in fact, one of the most convincing players of the blues of his generation. Only the bonus track here, "Five Points", is a blues, but the coloration of the blues informs all the tracks. The music combines great urgency with unexpected poise: Pepper's solos are admirably well-constructed. The highlight of the album is probably its one ballad, "Come Rain or Come Shine"; like all the album, it comes across as more wistful than (as one might expect given the circumstances) anguished, though Pepper's tone is keening & slightly rough-edged despite its elegance.A word for Frank Butler, one of the great drummers of the midcentury who deserved a lot more recognition than he got. He has the kind of unfettered feel one associates with Philly Joe Jones, but his approach is highly individual--his fills aren't like anyone else's in the period. Butler is perhaps most familiar to jazz fans from cameos in the Miles Davis & John Coltrane discographies (he played on _Seven Steps to Heaven_ & in some of Coltrane's 1965 groups); he's also well-featured on many Contemporary discs from the period, notably Curtis Counce's.
This disc is one of Pepper's best. Pepper's work from 1956-60 for Contemporary is probably his most important; any serious jazz fan should have at least a few of these sessions, & I'd name _Intensity_ & _Meets the Rhythm Section_ as the ones to go for first.
More Intensity free music reviews:
1
1
Description of Intensity
Japanese limited edition issue of the album classic in a deluxe, miniaturized LP sleeve replica of the original vinyl album artwork.Jazz CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Jazz CDs
Curtis Brothers Quartet - Blood, Spirit, Land, Water, FreedomRelease date: 2009-10-01; Music CD
![Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS] Image](/images/Jazz-Casual-3-Pack-Vol-1-Count-Basie-Carmen-McRae-John-Coltrane-VHS-6305320578-X.jpg)
Jazz Casuals: Coltrane Basie & Mcrae - Jazz Casual - 3-Pack Vol. 1 (Count Basie, Carmen McRae, John Coltrane) [VHS]Rhino / Wea; Release date: 1999-05-04; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $43.27
![Jazz Legend: Part 2 1970-1987 [VHS] Image](/images/Jazz-Legend-Part-2-1970-1987-VHS-6303400787-X.jpg){kind=small}
Buddy Rich - Jazz Legend: Part 2 1970-1987 [VHS]Warner Brothers Pub.; Release date: 2000-10-20; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
![Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS] Image](/images/Living-Legend-of-the-Electric-Guitar-VHS-6302658225-X.jpg){kind=small}
Les Paul - Living Legend of the Electric Guitar [VHS]Bmg Video Label; Release date: 1993-02-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
![Hurricane [VHS] Image](/images/Hurricane-VHS-6302251281-X.jpg){kind=small}
Herbie Hancock - Hurricane [VHS]View Video; Release date: 1992-04-07; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.50
Cocktails for Twoby band leader Spike Jones
Music CD
Best price: $19.95
![Dave Grusin and the NY/LA Dream Band [VHS] Image](/images/Dave-Grusin-and-the-NY-LA-Dream-Band-VHS-6301724496-X.jpg)
Dave Grusin - Dave Grusin and the NY/ LA Dream Band [VHS]Umgd; Release date: 1990-06-26; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
![Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS] Image](/images/Diane-Schuur-Count-Basie-Orchestra-VHS-630164770X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Count Basie, Diane Schuur - Diane Schuur & Count Basie Orchestra [VHS]Grp Records; Release date: 1996-01-30; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Damals in HamburgRelease date: 1999-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $23.52
Ben Webster - Ben WebsterRelease date: 2006-12-20; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Art Pepper - Return of Art Pepper/ Modern Art/ Art Meets The Rhythm Section/ Art Pepper QuartetRelease date: 2008-12-18; Music CD
Best price: $6.82
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - The TripRelease date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Saturday Night at the Village VanguardRelease date: 1992-02-17; Music CD
Best price: $6.33
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Complete Village Vanguard SessionsRelease date: 1995-04-17; Music CD
Best price: $70.00
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - One September AfternoonRelease date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $4.58
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Smack UpPEPPER,ART; Release date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.43
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Art Pepper + ElevenRelease date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Winter MoonRelease date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Straight LifeRelease date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.43
Price in other shops:
Art Pepper - Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm SectionRelease date: 2010-03-30; Music CD
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops: