There's often a certain poignancy inherent in the last recordings of great musicians, and last October we examined notable final recordings of such jazz legends as Bill Evans, Clifford Brown, and John Coltrane. In that article, Goin' Home by alto saxophonist Art Pepper was cited as a notable, delightful coda to a career that saw a lot of ups and downs but ended on a big upswing.

Until this past spring, Goin' Home represented Pepper's official coda to the world. However, on the twenty-fifth anniversary this past spring of Art's final public performance at the Kool Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. on May 30, 1982, his widow Laurie released an audio document of that last concert.

Actually, it was Laurie herself who made this recording possible to begin with, much less see the light of day. Voice Of America had requested to tape the show and once she was assured that VOA wasn't staffed by neo-Nazis (which Benny Goodman supposedly cited as a reason for refusing the same), then Mrs. Pepper granted the permission. The Kool Jazz Festival performance is the second part of a series of never-before released (legally, at least) live recordings of her late husband that she is releasing under her private "Widow's Taste" label. In doing so, Mrs. Pepper seeks to turn others on to the overlooked artistry of Art. In her own words:

1. I'm introducing truly unreleased and unheard Art to people who love him and want to hear him.
2. I'm introducing Art Pepper to people who thought they knew what jazz was (incomprehensible bebop), so they can correct that awful impression and fill their lives with soulful beauty.
3. I'm introducing Art Pepper to people who thought they knew what jazz was (Kenny G) and didn't like it. If you like Kenny G, just go away. There's nothing for you here.

For his final performance, Art Pepper was accompanied by Roger Kellaway on piano, David Williams on bass and Carl Burnett on drums. This constituted Pepper's regular band at this time, sans pianist George Cables, who had just accepted a more lucrative position as Sarah Vaughn's musical director. Kellaway, however, filled in just fine (just for grins, go look up who composed the music for the closing theme song to the "All In The Family" sitcom)

The recording quality is generally good; the miking seemed to be about right, but the audio quality sounds a bit muffled. Overall, though, it's quite bearable and well above bootleg caliber.