These Galaxy releases display all of the issues with production quality in the 1970s—thin, flimsy covers, dated artwork and nasty, flexible, lightweight vinyl. However, the label does provide better production notes than Contemporary, with more detail regarding recording and mastering engineers and recording venues. Despite appearances, the sound of the records is of a remarkably high quality. Although the vinyl is thin, the sound is not. Furthermore, despite the increased use of recycled vinyl in the 1970’s (because of the OPEC oil embargo) Galaxy pressings are generally quiet.
While every one of these releases rates as above average quality, some are still better than others. Winter Moon has a string accompaniment and One September Afternoon is a session the small group recorded after the strings left for the day. Like most string-backed efforts, even by the greatest artists, these sessions feel dated and not up to Pepper’s best efforts. So in Love, recorded in 1979, is a compilation of two sessions, one on the east coast and the other on the west. Two cuts from the New York session feature Hank Jones, Ron Carter, and Al Foster. The Los Angeles session (three cuts) features George Cables, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. The original release was on Artists House, a New York label with ties to Haden, that released a total of 14 albums. It was reissued by Analogue Productions in 2003 and is now out of print. It’s a good session, but not where I would start exploring the late material.
That would be the first Galaxy release, Art Pepper Today, which teams Pepper with Stanley Cowell, Cecil McBee, Roy Haynes, and Kenneth Nash. Recorded over a couple of days in December 1978, it sports a Phil Bray photograph of Pepper looking a bit lost in space. Recording engineer Baker Bigsby’s name may not be as familiar as DuNann or Van Gelder, but his discography is deep and impressive—he was a regular recording engineer for Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. This is an outstanding record for sound and music and can be found for a ridiculously small outlay.
Straight Life, recorded on September 21st, 1979, at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley by Wally Buck, is named after one the three Pepper compositions featured on the release. Pepper is accompanied by Tommy Flanagan on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Kenneth Nash plays cowbell on one song. Does it get any better than this? The album opens with ‘Surf Ride’ and then launches into an almost 10-minute version of ‘Nature Boy.’ Side two spends 11 minutes on ‘September Song’ and almost ten on ‘Make A List.’ The two standards tear your heart out, and his renditions of his originals are definitive. If there is a single LP from his comeback period to take to a desert island, this is it.
If the Galaxy releases whet your appetite, Pepper released a few others during his final years, discs on which he is not listed as a leader for contract reasons. These are the three records released in 1980 on Atlas Records, two co-led by Pepper with Sonny Stitt and a third co-led with Jack Sheldon. Pepper is listed, but not as a leader. He appears simply as one of the five “West Coast Friends”. All three are outstanding sessions, well recorded and pressed in Japan. They can be purchased for surprisingly low prices. Groovin’ High (LA27-1004) and Atlas Blues (LA27-1007) show Stitt as leader and Angel Wings (LA27-1001) is led by Sheldon.
