Description
The presence of Jack Sheldon in a rare performance as a small-group trumpeter was another important factor in the album’s success. A must own 45 from Analogue Productions.
AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow
The title of this recording, Smack Up is ironic and inadvertently truthful. Within a short period, Art Pepper would begin spending many years in jail due to his heroin addiction; this was his next-to-last album from that period. Despite the bleak future, the great altoist (who never seemed to make an uninspired record during his unstable life) is in excellent form in a quintet with trumpeter Jack Sheldon, pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Jimmy Bond, and drummer Frank Butler. Highlights of this fine album include Harold Land’s title cut, the five/four blues “Las Cuevas de Mario,” and Ornette Coleman’s “Tears Inside.”
2. Las Cuevas De Mario
3. A Bit Of Basie
2. Maybe Next Year
3. Tears Inside