Art Pepper - +11

Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series

Six key albums from the Contemporary Records catalog reissued on 180-gram vinyl!

Titles featuring Art Pepper, Barney Kessel, Benny Carter, Hampton Hawes and Shelly Manne

Featuring all-analog mastering by Bernie Grundman

Pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on jackets

Continuing Craft Recordings' 70th Anniversary celebration of Contemporary Records!

Click for more about the Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series

Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds are proud to announce the Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series, which begins with six album releases from the Contemporary Records catalog, celebrating 70 years of the legendary jazz label. The releases are supervised by Chad Kassem, CEO of Acoustic Sounds, the world's largest source for audiophile recordings.

Each title, originally engineered by Roy DuNann and/or Howard Holzer, features all-analog mastering from the original tapes by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman (himself a former employee of the label), as well as unsurpassed audiophile pressing on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, presented in a Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on jacket.

The series highlights gems from Contemporary's extraordinary catalog and features artists who both defined and expanded the sound of West Coast jazz.

Kicking off the series is Art Pepper's +Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics. Throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s, Lester Koenig's artist-friendly Los Angeles-based audiophile jazz label documented career-defining performances by some of modern jazz's most influential and accomplished improvisers, including Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Harold Land and Benny Golson. No musician is more closely identified with Contemporary than Pepper, whose cool tone and simmering lyricism made him one of the very few mid-century alto saxophonists to forge a path independent of bebop patriarch Charlie Parker's pervasive influence.

Produced by Koenig and recorded in 1959, Art Pepper +Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics is one of the saxophonist's masterpieces. Featuring brilliant arrangements by Marty Paich, the album elaborates on the lush but lithe sound introduced by the epochal Birth of the Cool sessions, which Miles Davis started to record almost exactly a decade earlier (like Birth, +Eleven kick offs with Denzil Best's "Move"). Surrounded by the cream of the LA scene, including fellow saxophone masters Herb Geller, Bill Perkins and Med Flory, Pepper brings all his scorching lyricism to a program of modern jazz standards by Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan and Sonny Rollins.

 

 

 

Side A

Move

Groovin' High

Opus De Funk

'Round Midnight

Four Brothers

Shawnuff

Side B

Bernie's Tune

Walkin' Shoes

Anthropology

Airegin

Walkin

Donna Lee

Customer Reviews (5.00 Stars) 5 person(s) rated this product.

Best one so far posted on 02/17/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Danny I have all of these reissues, and hands down, this is my favorite. The sound is simply amazing, and the music is great; how often can you say both? I'm days away from "Meets the Rhythm Section," and I can't wait. This is great west coast jazz that doesn't disappoint.

Just Stunning! posted on 06/03/2022 5 Stars Reviewer: RWC This LP arrived today and I couldn't wait to play it. The Craft/ AP version blows away all other versions. Roy DuNann was a genius and this pressing shows off all of the beauty and clarity of his recording. The band is tight, Pepper is on fire, and Paich's arrangements are revealed in all of their textural glory. The band is a living, breathing entity. A "must have". Can't wait for the others in the series!

Oh, Grundman, You've Done It Again! posted on 06/01/2022 5 Stars Reviewer: James Miller This LP just makes me wanna crawl all up in Mel Lewis' drum kit. A big thank you to all involved. Material and playing? The East Coast compositions give a nice edge to the West Coast players. Not sure of the state of Mr. Pepper's health at this point in time but to these ears, his playing is impeccable, regardless.

Stunning posted on 05/21/2022 5 Stars Reviewer: Audio Alien Everything comes through on this release. Such a wide open soundstage. Acoustic Sounds has raised the bar with this release.

Superb reissue posted on 05/14/2022 5 Stars Reviewer: Eric L This is the first release in the Contemporary Series and it's been a long time coming. Finally Craft teamed up with Acoustic Sounds to remaster these reissues. If you're a fan of Roy DuNann, the engineer for these sessions, you'll probably want to have these. Contemporary is admired by many audiophiles for it's great natural sound and this is no exception. Bernie Grundman, who worked at Contemporary, has mastered these.This recording is from 1959. The sound retains the vibrancy and warmth of the originals. In many ways the sound here is more satisfying and realistic then Van Gelder's Blue Notes. And the arrangements by Marty Paich are really stunning. I compared a couple of selections with the OJC 1988 release remastered by Phil De Lancie. The OJC is excellent as well and to be truthful I really can't tell which one is superior. But don't go by me. Hopefully others with a keener ear will be more analytic.

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