PEPPER, Art, & Laurie Pepper.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper. First edition, presentation copy from Pepper to bassist Cecil McBee, inscribed in red ink on the front free endpaper, "To Cecil - I want you to know that playing with you at Fantasy (Art Pepper Today) was a great pleasure for me. I hope we can play together again soon - & I hope you like this book - Art Pepper, Dec. '79".Art Pepper Today was recorded in December 1978 for Galaxy, a division of Fantasy Records. DownBeat awarded it 5 stars and noted that it found the altoist "completely emotionally engaged with the themes and style of yesterday, and they leap to life with joyous urgency". McBee contributes a fine solo to "Patricia", Pepper's lovely ballad dedicated to his first wife. Todd Selbert includes the album it in his discography, which closes the book. Pepper's acclaimed memoir has been described as "a definitive jazz autobiography" (Cook & Morton, p. 1,141).Born in Tulsa, Cecil McBee (b. 1935) has played and recorded with many jazz greats, including Miles Davis, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, and Keith Jarrettt, and has had long affiliations with Yusef Lateef and Alice Coltrane. "As well as having established a reputation for creative versatility in both 'free' and 'time' contexts, McBee has a rounded, expressive tone and an enviably strong pulse" (Brian Priestley in Jazz: The Rough Guide, p. 420).

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