ART PEPPER (Downbeat interview 1964):
“You listen to Coltrane,” he argued, “on that spiritual he recorded, and it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. As far as anybody knowing how to play a saxophone, all you have to do is go back to his old recordings. I don’t see how anyone, including Bird, could possibly run through changes the way Coltrane did on that record. He’s just a master on the instrument.” The performance Pepper referred to is “Spiritual,”...“When he does things that sound ‘ugly,’” Pepper continued, “he may make just a squall, or just a double-octave sound or something. It’s just an emotional thing; it’s not meant to be pretty. If he wanted to play pretty—that is, if he had a ‘pretty’ emotion going—he would play pretty. But he doesn’t play that way; he feels emotional.
“It’s a thing of the times. You’re ridding yourself of frustration, of hatred, suppression, every other thing. It’s just complete freedom of expression.”
********************
I always thought (and continue to find) that Art Pepper's OWN late period playing was kind of "spiritual" (that intensity and total honesty) , somewhat ironic from the most "unspiritual" of lifestyles.
CK/out "Lost Life" from Living Legend (1976) with Hamp Hawes, Haden and Shelly Manne.
BN.
“You listen to Coltrane,” he argued, “on that spiritual he recorded, and it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. As far as anybody knowing how to play a saxophone, all you have to do is go back to his old recordings. I don’t see how anyone, including Bird, could possibly run through changes the way Coltrane did on that record. He’s just a master on the instrument.” The performance Pepper referred to is “Spiritual,”...“When he does things that sound ‘ugly,’” Pepper continued, “he may make just a squall, or just a double-octave sound or something. It’s just an emotional thing; it’s not meant to be pretty. If he wanted to play pretty—that is, if he had a ‘pretty’ emotion going—he would play pretty. But he doesn’t play that way; he feels emotional.
“It’s a thing of the times. You’re ridding yourself of frustration, of hatred, suppression, every other thing. It’s just complete freedom of expression.”
********************
I always thought (and continue to find) that Art Pepper's OWN late period playing was kind of "spiritual" (that intensity and total honesty) , somewhat ironic from the most "unspiritual" of lifestyles.
CK/out "Lost Life" from Living Legend (1976) with Hamp Hawes, Haden and Shelly Manne.
BN.
[/IMG]
Comment