Art Pepper
The July 1964 Downbeat article “Art Pepper’s Not The Same” is a fascinating sample of the “What Were They Thinking” syndrome. Art threw himself headlong into free form music with this particular quartet and the only evidence of its existence was a half-hour TV show on NET (forerunner to PBS). I remember watching the program in utter disbelief. It was the sound of musicians trying NOT to be themselves. Fortunately, this phase passed quickly and Pepper got back to being his brilliant self and made another 20 years of magnificent music.
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