Search - Art Pepper :: Surf Ride

Like riding the biggest wave!

stef | Genoa Italy | 07/31/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album to death! It is pure west coast bop at its best. You can imagine nothing better. Art Pepper was a marvellous alto player, in my opinion after Bird, he is matched on the alto only by Cannonball Adderley. He express in this recording un unbelievable joy de vivre, an incomparable tecnical ability, a unmatched sense of time and swing. He plays effortlessy on the fastest tempos you can imagine without missing a beat, always saying something, delivering an emotion, telling a little story. How can a human being play better than this man? This album is the final word on west coast jazz. It was really not that cool!! It was pure fire, pure, fantastic, sincere, artistic music. This one would be the record I'd give to an alien or to a God, to prove that we, as human beings, were nothing but a genial race, and that we knew beauty and art."

Please Pass On The Pepper

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 09/09/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Surf Ride" is an early look at a giant of jazz who recorded over a thirty year period, but who is probably, and unfortunately, remembered as much for his personal problems and incarceration as for his music. This album, recorded over several sessions and with almost a dozen different musicians, suffers from a lack of cohesion among musicians, and a lack of confidence in playing by Pepper. The exception comes on the tunes with Jack Monterose, particularly the title-track, "Straight Life" and "Thyme Time." They are definitely a step up from the CD's first few quartet tracks, and they almost turn this into a four star effort. With so many classic Pepper CDs available from OJC, including "Smack Up," "Intensity," "Meets the Rhythm Section" and "Gettin' Together" (see my review), you can pass this Pepper."