This Week In Jazz Appreciation: Art Pepper

"You know, there's honest musicians and dishonest musicians. Let me clarify that: An honest musician, to me, plays with his heart and soul and gives you his all, all the time. And then there's the dishonest musician who plays, and he gives you his all, but not all of the time. It's like a race horse. When Art plays, it's all, all the time. I never heard him lay back at any time, and that, to me, is an honest musician. And there aren't too many of them in the entire world." -Marty Paich

"The lessons of jazz history suggests it is music made best by young men, but Pepper seemed to turn the tables on this truism. Has any saxophonist played with such newfound energy so late in life? His late recordings stand as crowning achievements in Pepper's career. Unlike virtually every other musician, Pepper created his greatest work at the end of his life, long after the glory days of West Coast Jazz had passed." -Ted Gioia

"You couldn't file him in a category. He wasn't L.A. cool, white bop, '50s or '80s, but an impassioned musician with an alto sax and a rhythm section that never completely satisfied him. Despite the facile cliches of the music he mastered, he made you know that, facility and cliches notwithstanding, no one else could ever play like that." -Gary Giddins