Great Jazz Albums (IMO) #26

Art Pepper.  Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section (1957).  Art Pepper on saxophone with Miles Davis' rhythm section:  Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums.  How could this not be a great album?  Well, as legend would have it, Pepper was informed of the recording date on the morning it was scheduled, had a saxophone that was in disrepair, and was suffering from heroin addiction.  In any event, "the music produced from this chaos has been described as "a diamond of recorded jazz history."  As one review states, the result was "a seamless match of styles and approaches that showcases the skills of all four master musicians."  Art Pepper, another critic wrote, was one of very few alto saxophone players in the 1950s "that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker."  Notwithstanding a career that was repeatedly interrupted by drugs and drug-related incarceration, Art Pepper's playing was consistently great. This album is one of his best.

[Related posts:  Really Great Jazz Albums,  #1 (Hank Mobley); , #2 (Horace Silver), #3 (Sonny Rollins), #4 (Sonny Clark), #5 (Dexter Gordon), #6 (Cannonball Adderley), #7 (Bill Evans), #8 (McCoy Tyner), #9 (Clifford Brown), #10 (Sinatra), #11 (Monk), #12 (Kenny Dorham), #13 (Coltrane), #14 (Duke Ellington), #15 (Miles Davis), #16 (Wayne Shorter), #17 (Dinah Washington); #18 (Sarah Vaughan); #19 (Stan Getz); #20 (Blue Mitchell); #21 (Gene Ammons); #22 (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers); #23 (Red Garland); #24 (Ella Fitzgerald); #25 (Charlie Parker)]