Art Pepper
Friday Night At The Village Vanguard

The year 1977 was a year full of movement for the Village Vanguard, a true Sanctuary of Jazz, and even today, after seventy-seven years of pilgrimage first by Folk enthusiasts and then by Jazz fans, it remains one of the reference points not only of musical New York: all this thanks to Lorainne Gordon, wife of that Max Gordon who in 1934, without a dollar in his pocket, had the brilliant idea to open, in a basement, a night club in the heart of bohemian New York.

Max passed away in 1989. The '77, for example, is the year when Dexter Gordon (no relation to "Mister Vanguard") and Woody Shaw began their traditional New Year's Eve performance at the Vanguard. But that is also the year when a historic recording was made in the Village's basement, already a witness to legendary recordings like those of Coltrane, Rollins, and other greats. If the second half of the '70s marked Dexter Gordon's return to America, that part of the decade also represented the resurrection, after various personal vicissitudes related to alcohol, drugs, prison, and so forth, of Art Pepper, the old white bird of the alto saxophone.

The three nights of that weekend in July 1977, coincide with Pepper's artistic maturity, which arrived precisely with his return to the scene; but without forgetting, of course, what the Californian saxophonist had done in the 50's, culminating in the superb masterpiece "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section." This live recording is the testimony of the second night, which opens with "Las Cuevas de Mario," which despite its exotic and Latin title, is a teasing Blues where Pepper's fragmented phrasings on the alto open the evening with a musical moment of low profile, yet certainly admirable. Pepper is in great shape, as demonstrated by the wonderful "But Beautiful," a very famous piece in which Stan Getz, another of the so-called lyrical saxophonists from the Cool movement, also excelled. Although Pepper's phrasing alternates the Cool lyrical style, of which he was a notable representative, with the agitated dynamics of Bop. In this sense, Pepper delivers two standout performances: the first, "Caravan," a piece where he switches from the alto to the tenor. The second, "Night in Tunisia" (present as a bonus track), perhaps the ultimate Bop manifesto. In "Caravan" the pace is as fast as a train: Elvin Jones's drumming, previously collaborating with Sonny Rollins on historical Vanguard recordings, is a display of his immeasurable class, a foil that thrusts like a sword. On the piano, George Cables, certainly one of the most interesting pianists emerging in the '70s, always adds further value to the leader's intricate patterns. George Mraz on double bass is truly a prodigy. "Night in Tunisia" represents the ideal peak of the evening, the perfectly measured cherry topping off this Art Pepper gem.

After an ordinary legendary evening, Max tells Art to go to hell in the historical kitchen/dressing room/waiting room/office at the back of the Vanguard. See you tomorrow, Art. Buy it, and also grab "Live at the Vanguard" written by Max Gordon... you'll hear some great stories, so why not also read some great ones?