Art Pepper

HIGH-DEFINITION PREMIUM VINYL PRESSING FOR SUPER FIDELITY!!!

180 gram VINYL –AUDIOPHILE PRESSING!

The Artistry of Pepper presents the saxophonist in a variety of settings. It was issued in 1962 after Pepper entered prison to serve the longest drug-related sentence of his life. He had already spent nearly two years in prison (between 1953 and 1954), alternating between the Los Angeles prison and the Forth Worth hospital, when he was arrested again at the end of 1960. Because he was mistakenly believed to be part of a large drug-dealing operation, he was given a long sentence and taken to San Quentin. Pepper described the circumstances of his arrest in his autobiography: “At myrraignment my bail had been set at one hundred thousand dollars. The DA’s office gave a speech. They said I was involved in a huge network of dope dealers and I was dealing to Hollywood and the near valley. I was reputed to be a big gangster in a narcotics ring. The people I was scoring from were big people, but I was just buying from them. I wasn’t dealing at all at the time. The judge finally said, ‘Well, what was found on the suspe?’ They said, ‘Oh, that’s inconsequential. That has no bearing on the case’. The judge said, ‘How much was it?’ And the guy said, ‘Two quarter ounces, a half ounce total’. They recommended that bail be set at a hundred thousand because they didn’t want me to get out and inform the rest of the ‘gang’. They said they had things in the works; everything was set up; they had people under surveillance. The judge went along with them, and they put me back in jail. When I went to my preliminary hearing the judge said to the DA, ‘Well, where’s this gang and all the things you were going to tie in?’ He realized that it was all bullshit but he wouldn’t lower the bail to fifteen hundred dollars, which is what the public defender asked for. He put it to five thousand, and I still couldn’t get out.”

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