Art Pepper + Eleven - Modern Jazz Classics (1974 Japanese Contemporary Limited Edition Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG+ (insert has section cut out)
Obi: None

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Art Pepper + Eleven - Modern Jazz Classics | Vinyl LP - 1974 Japanese Contemporary Records Limited Edition Reissue (LAX 3015, King Record Co. Ltd)

Paich compared his working relationship with Pepper to the one between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and the comparison holds. His arrangements use a modified version of the instrumentation he had developed for his own "Dek-tette" sessions: trumpet, trombone, valve trombone, French horn, up to four saxophones and a rhythm section, with Bob Enevoldsen's ability to switch between valve trombone and tenor saxophone giving Paich the option of five brass and three reeds or four brass and four reeds depending on the chart. The result is big enough to push Pepper but small enough to stay nimble. On "Move" (the Denzil Best piece from the Birth of the Cool sessions) the band punches behind Pepper's alto with the kind of tight, swinging precision that makes 11 musicians sound like a full orchestra. "Shaw'nuff" and "Anthropology" get the Parker/Gillespie material at speed without losing the detail in Paich's voicings. "'Round Midnight" slows everything down and lets the French horn and low brass create a bed underneath Pepper's ballad reading. "Walkin'" is the longest track at over five minutes and the one where Pepper stretches furthest, with Mel Lewis pushing the tempo from underneath.

Three sessions across March and May 1959 produced the 12 tracks, with the trumpet, second alto and one tenor chair rotating between dates. The first session (March 14) had Pete Candoli on trumpet and Herb Geller on second alto. The second (March 28) brought in Al Porcino and Bud Shank. The third (May 12) kept Porcino and added Charlie Kennedy on alto and Richie Kamuca on tenor. Jack Sheldon, Dick Nash, Med Flory, Joe Mondragon and Russ Freeman were constants throughout. Pepper was in a difficult period: at the start of 1959 he was selling piano accordions for a living, and Paich was, by Pepper's own account, the only bandleader in Los Angeles who consistently called him for recording dates. The Down Beat review said Pepper turned out "one of his best performances on record." Lester Koenig produced for Contemporary, Roy DuNann engineered. This is the 1974 Japanese limited edition on LAX 3015, from the Contemporary Jazz 1500 Series, manufactured by King Record Co. Ltd.