Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Spoken Introduction
2. Blues for Heard
3. Spoken Introduction
4. Scrapple from the Apple
5. Spoken Introduction
6. But Beautiful
7. Spoken Introduction
8. My Friend John
9. Spoken Introduction
10. Cherokee [#]
11. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 2:

1. Spoken Introduction
2. For Freddie [#]
3. Spoken Introduction
4. Valse Triste
5. Spoken Introduction
6. Live at the Vanguard
7. Spoken Introduction
8. Caravan [#]
9. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 3:

1. Spoken Introduction
2. Over the Rainbow
3. Spoken Introduction
4. Trip
5. Blues for Les
6. Night in Tunisia

Disc 4:

1. Spoken Introduction
2. No Limit
3. Spoken Introduction
4. Valse Triste [#]
5. Spoken Introduction
6. My Friend John [#]
7. Spoken Introduction
8. You Go to My Head
9. Cherokee
10. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 5:

1. Count off and Blues for Heard [#]
2. Anthropology
3. These Foolish Things
4. For Freddie [#]
5. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 6:

1. Spoken Introduction
2. Cuevas de Mario
3. Spoken Introduction
4. Stella by Starlight
5. Spoken Introduction
6. Goodbye [#]
7. Spoken Introduction
8. Vanguard Max [#]
9. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 7:

1. Count off and Vanguard Max
2. Spoken Introduction
3. Goodbye
4. Spoken Introduction
5. For Freddie
6. Blues for Heard

Disc 8:

1. Announcement and False Start
2. My Friend John [#]
3. Spoken Introduction
4. More for Les
5. Cherokee [#]
6. Blues for Heard [#]

Disc 9:

1. Count off and for Freddie [#]
2. More for Les [#]
3. Caravan
4. Labyrinth
5. My Friend John [#]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54084 in Music
• Released on: 1995-04-17
• Number of discs: 9
• Formats: Box set, Live
• Dimensions: 1.71 pounds

Album Description
20bit digital K2 mastering.

Amazon.com
Devoted fans of alto saxophonist Art Pepper share a fascination with Chet Baker fans. They find Pepper's excesses, so flatly confessed in his autobiography, Straight Life, great fodder for intense listening--which they are. Pepper had a rare talent for playing as if his horn were a lens on his torment. He played cushioned, cool melodies in the California jazz heyday and then went off to prison and hardscrabble years as an infamous heroin addict. By the time he performed the music on this massive nine-CD set, Pepper had made several comebacks, the latest of which was heroic--if fueled by chemicals and a furious need to prove himself during the Vanguard gigs caught here uninterrupted. The music bristles, whether in the pretty anguish of a solo-sax "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or the numerous mad-charging bop heads Pepper tackles as if they were his last meals. He makes an ass of himself with some of the between-song banter, but it's all part of the big picture. For all the thorns and warts and complications, that picture shows unabated, undiluted, and unquenchable musical chops to burn here. The liner essay tells the whole sordid tale of Pepper gone from prison to a halfway house to a late-1970s rebound that urged some of his best music. If this lavish box, with its repetitions of tunes (all the takes, however, differ radically) is too much, try the individual volumes. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

A little info for all Jazz fans.
This box set is great, but JVC released a completely remastered version of this set a little while ago. It's like 250.00, but if you want the best in sound, then search for it in jazz imports section. jb

So whats the big deal with the JVC box?? Read on....
I made a few calls, and it turns out that JVC leases the origional tapes from Contemporary Records to remaster the material in 24-bit, 96-k fidelity. I ordered the set, and have been quite pleased with the sound and packaging. No muddy mids and highs you get with the early 90's reissues.

For the discerning listener, this is the only option for Art Pepper fans.

Beautiful Art Masterpiece.
Art Pepper,
Saxophonist extrodinaire, drug addict, music visionairy,artistic contemporary. Many of these terms have been used to describe the inigmatic Arthur Pepper, however, within the scope of musician, this man was clearly a master of his medium. Perhaps in the same vein as [Charlie] Parker. Live at the Village Vanguard finds Pepper surrounded by an excellent group of musicians. The repititions of selection may be a bit redundant for many, however, none of the material is done in the same manner, and IMHO, allows the material to remain fresh and new. I highly recommend this pricey boxset to Pepper neophytes as well as to old school Pepper fans.