Some records are famous but are not often listened to. Art Pepper’s Smack Up is such an album. Any student of jazz knows the name of alto saxophonist Art Pepper, and those literate in the drug culture know that “smack” means heroin. The album title’s notorious nod to the hipper members of the jazz community made Smack Up one of Pepper’s most infamous releases.
But this 1960 album and its unsettling title would be a forgotten novelty today if the music wasn’t good. That’s not a problem, since the six pieces on Smack Up can stand next to other great post-bop albums of the era. Hearing it now makes one both exhilarated and melancholy. The music is exciting, despite six decades having passed since its recording. Even so, this LP can also make a listener sad when thinking about what Art Pepper could have become.
Smack Up arrived near the end of what is now referred to as Pepper’s early period, in the midst of a 10-year stretch that often found the saxophonist incarcerated for his use of narcotics. Hearing him solo on these pieces is like hearing a recording by trumpeter Clifford Brown or guitarist Emily Remler. As wonderful as both musicians were, one struggles not to think about their careers’ sudden end. Art Pepper remained with us after Smack Up, but heroin and prison broke his artistic progress.
Enough sadness. The reason any of this matters is because Smack Up is a great small group jazz album. Pepper’s sidemen for this October 1960 recording session included Jack Sheldon on trumpet, pianist Pete Jolly, Jimmy Bond on bass, and drummer Frank Butler. These names are not well known today, but each serves to further the leader’s vision for this music and are all excellent players.
Smack Up is one of the jazz albums that Craft Recordings is releasing on vinyl during its 2024 reissue project. They chose the stereophonic mix here, which was smart. By 1960, the novelty of overly stark stereo separation was starting to fade. Producer Lester Koenig strikes the right balance in presenting a stereo image that represents a club date.
Craft’s new pressing is flawless, a term that also describes this music. Speaking of descriptions, the album jacket includes the original liner notes by jazz critic Leonard Feather. Feather compares Pepper’s musical vocabulary to William Shakespeare and his ability with an alto sax to Charlie Parker. Pretty rarified air, but I won’t disagree. With Smack Up available again, a new audience can discover Art Pepper for themselves and decide.
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