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The Hollywood All-Star Sessions
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0025218443128
Format: Box set
Label: Galaxy
Manufacturer: Galaxy
Number Of Discs: 5
Publisher: Galaxy
Release Date: May 15, 2001
Studio: Galaxy
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Editorial Review:
The Hollywood All-Star Sessions chronicle an important part of Art Pepper's comeback in the late '70s, when the altoist was surmounting years of heroin addiction and imprisonment to play with renewed energy and an impassioned creativity. His Complete Galaxy Recordings from the period have already been collected in a 16-CD set, but Pepper was also recording for the small Japanese label Atlas, appearing as "sideman" on a series of sessions that he usually led in all but name. This five-CD set gathers music from seven LPs recorded between 1979 and 1982, sessions that haven't been issued in the U.S. on CD, and adds two unissued alternate takes and an insightful essay by Laurie Pepper, Art's widow.
The Atlas intention was to recapture the flavor of West Coast jazz of the '50s, and the label matched Peeper with associates and material that would suggest the earlier era. Nominal leaders of the Hollywood All-Stars included West Coast veterans such as trumpeter Jack Sheldon, drummer Shelly Manne, and pianist Pete Jolly, as well as the younger trombonist Bill Watrous, with Pepper himself as the only constant. The material emphasizes standards and jazz tunes from the earlier era, and the group style is suavely relaxed, often with touches of counterpoint. If Pepper's intensity had always marked him as something of an outsider in the cool school, it was also an inspiration: this is small-group modern jazz that's often as lively as it is polished, with Pepper prodding Sheldon, Watrous, and tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper to outdo themselves.
Pepper's ballad playing had a uniquely visceral quality and it often stands out here, especially in a quartet session under pianist Pete Jolly's name, with Pepper unfettered by other horns. There are also meetings with two other giants of modern jazz alto, Sonny Stitt and Lee Konitz. The sessions with Stitt produced two LPs, with the focus strongly on blues and bop. It's spirited music, with Stitt's Parker-like lines contrasting with Pepper's alternately jagged and convoluted phrasing. If Stitt challenged Pepper's competitiveness, then Konitz ignited his imagination. Recorded just five months before Pepper's death, it's an encounter between two of the genuine improvisers, each shaping music anew with every gesture, phrase, and inflection, whether the material at hand is as novel as Konitz's "A Minor Blues in F" or as hackneyed as "Anniversary Song." --Stuart Broomer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Art of gold!
This album is a must for all serious jazz fans... I was an Art Pepper listener... but I had missed that album...While reading one of Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, The Narrows I think (?), Bosh who is a jazz lover was listening to that album at his home... And he said it was a must in his own words... So I immediately went to Amazone to order it... This album is a master piece! It is an historical album, a legendary boxset! No jazz collection is complete without it... hope you do as I did and buy ... Read More
Rating: - Art at his Best
I have a number of Art Pepper's CDs. I have always regarded him as good, but not great. That is until I purchased this five CD boxed set-The Hollywood All-Star Sessions. This is Art Pepper at his swinging greatest! Since he had some contract dispute with Galaxy Records, he is listed as a sideman. That may account for his stretching out and he does it on these five CDs. Also, if you have a very good audio system (not a boom box from a discount store) the recording quality on many of the performances ... Read More
Rating: - A must have for any fan of Art
Trust me, the price is worth it for some of the best jazz "showdowns" you will ever hear. The sessions with Stitt (tenor) are worth the price alone. I can't really say anything more than the other reviewers here have not already said, but I just wanted to throw in my two cents.
My tastes are very eclectic, But I can honestly say that these are some of the most fresh jazz improv sessions i have ever heard recorded, even if they are decades old.
Rating: - So Glad I Picked This One Up!
I've only owned this box set for two weeks, but it has already joined the list of my favorite jazz recordings. Historia de un Amor (Disc 2) is one of the most beautiful performances I have ever heard.
Rating: - A Novice Perspective
I write as someone with no background in jazz and only recently determined to give it a chance. Early exposure to fusion and speed-artists turned me off and now at midlife I am determined to mine out some of the nuggets. A few albums appealed at once; Kind of Blue, Jazz Samba, a few others; but nothing has reached out and grabbed me like this album. Simply superb performances and recordings. I can't wait till my own copy arrives.
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