Art Pepper - The Way It Was! (1972) [MFSL 2008] PS3 ISO + DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Art Pepper’s The Way it Was! was recorded for Contemporary between 1956-60, these seven tracks sat dormant in the label's vault until 1972. The album is built around four previously un-released tunes pairing Pepper with the tenor of Warne Marsh. Filling out the program are three incredible tracks from Pepper's masterpieces; Gettin' Together and Intensity (both 1960) plus Meets the Rhythm Section (1957), all of which were left off due to the timing limitations of vinyl. Supported by the likes of Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb and Red Garland, their workouts on the standards “The Man I Love,” “Autumn Leaves” and especially “The Way You Look Tonight” establish a brilliant east-coast meets west-coast summit. Art's creamy alto more than holds it's own with some of New York's bop-elite, resulting in a masterpiece in its own right.

MoFi went to great lengths to preserve these historic sessions. After auditioning the master tapes, the engineers discovered that the commercial CD version had artificial echo added and the bass was summed. Having the bass summed is common practice for LP cutting when the bass is recorded to one side, by summing the bass it moves the lower frequencies closer to the middle of the soundstage and therefore allows the cutter head to inscribe the lacquer more effectively. There was no need for the bass to be summed in MoFi’s version and since the original tapes had no artificial echo, MoFi engineers saw no reason to manipulate the master tapes in this way. In fact, the tapes sounded so good that there was no equalization done in the transfer process. The Tim de Paravicini modified Studer A-80 was plugged in directly to the Meitner A/D converters with nothing in the signal path, just a straight wire. As always special attention was made to calibration; getting the azimuth spot on. The results are stunning, what can be easily heard now is the natural tone of the room, improved detail, better soundstage and depth of field and the most natural instrument tonality. Now for the first time listeners can hear the un-altered versions of these classic Art Pepper sessions.

Despite his very erratic lifestyle, altoist Art Pepper never made a bad record. This collection is better than most. The first four titles team together Pepper with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh, pianist Ronnie Ball, bassist Ben Tucker, and drummer Gary Frommer for generally intriguing explorations of four standards. One can feel the influence of Lennie Tristano (with Pepper in Lee Konitz's place), although Pepper had his own sound and a more hard-swinging style. The success of the Pepper-Marsh front line makes one wish that they had recorded together again. The other three selections are leftovers from a trio of classic Pepper albums, and all are quite worthwhile. Pepper is heard backed by three separate rhythm sections, which include pianists Red Garland, Dolo Coker, or Wynton Kelly; either Paul Chambers or Jimmy Bond on bass; and Philly Joe Jones, Frank Butler, or Jimmy Cobb on drums. Overall, this album sticks to bop standards and finds Art Pepper in top form.

Tracklist:

01. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
02. All The Things You Are
03. What's New
04. Tickle Toe
05. The Man I Love
06. Autumn Leaves
07. The Way You Look Tonight
08. I Can't Believe That You're In Love with Me (alternate take)
09. All The Things You Are (alternate take)

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Thanks to PS³SACD!
Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 2,12 GB
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