Part of
Omnivore Records
'
Art Pepper
bootleg series, 2015's
Neon Art, Vol. 2
showcases the legendary jazz saxophonist performing live during his tour of Japan in November 1981. Produced by
Pepper
's then wife and manager,
Laurie Pepper
, the
Neon Art
releases are culled from recordings the West Coast jazz musician made during the final years of his life. The late '70s and early '80s were a creatively fruitful period for
who, with his wife's support, experienced renewed public interest in his music. Beginning in 1974,
(by then a recovering drug addict) toured Japan regularly, enjoying the respect and admiration of the Japanese public. An architect of the West Coast jazz sound of the 1950s,
broadened his style and approach to jazz in his latter years, moving in ever more expressive, bluesy, and even avant-garde directions. Recorded five months before his death in June 1982, these three live concerts feature
backed by pianist
George Cables
, bassist
David Williams
, and drummer
Carl Burnett
. As with many of his latter-career recordings, these are lengthy recordings with the shortest, the propulsive, bebop number "Allen's Alley," clocking in at just under ten minutes. Elsewhere,
delivers an epic, devastatingly heartbreaking rendition of
Harold Arlen
's classic "Over the Rainbow," and dives headlong into the funky "Mambo Koyama," a Latin-infused composition named in honor of
Swing Journal
editor and
champion
Kiyoshi Koyama
. ~ Matt Collar