Event SchedulePre-Concert Talk with Laurie Pepper: 5:00p-6:00pConcert with Daryl Gott Quartet: 6:30p-8:00p*with your ticket you may attend either or both eventsAlto Saxophonist ART PEPPER was one of the few alto players to resist the style and tone of Charlie Parker. From the beginning Art’s playing combined a tender delicacy of tone with a purity of narrative line.Art Pepper was born in Gardena, California on September 1, 1925 and began playing clarinet at age 9. By age 15 Pepper was performing in Lee Young’s band at the Club Alabam on Central Avenue, the home of jazz in pre-war Los Angeles. He joined Stan Kenton’s band, touring the U.S. and gaining fame, but was drafted in 1943 serving as an MP in London and performing with some British jazz bands. He returned to the States and to Kenton, touring and recording. In 1952 he placed second only to Charlie Parker in the Down Beat jazz poll. Art left Stan Kenton in 1951 to form his own group, occasionally recording for Rogers and others. He signed with Contemporary Records in 1957.Unfortunately the pull of drugs was a part of Art’s life and story. Although some users managed to get through and over their addictions, Art, survivor of a rocky childhood (alcoholic neglectful mother, alcoholic violent father), unbalanced from the get-go, never did quite triumph over his, though he may have fought them to a draw. In 1952 he began a long series of hospitalizations and incarcerations for violations of the drug laws of his time.All this history makes a pretty gripping story as it’s told by Art with his wife Laurie Pepper in their book, Straight Life (DaCapo). Despite the tumult, the music he managed to make during irregular bursts of freedom was enthralling. The rigor and abandon with which he lived his life were present in every note he played.Art Pepper died June 15, 1982 of a cerebral hemorrhage. But the 1979 publication of Straight Life and accompanying press had revived Art’s career. With Laurie’s help, he spent the last years of his life trying to make up for lost time, making each performance a life-or-death occasion, touring worldwide with his own bands, recording over a hundred albums, writing songs, winning polls, respect, and adulation.Eirik Haugbro-bassJack Dunlevie-pianoBrian Claxton-drums