Essential Standards

　The confines of a standard song could barely contain Art Pepper's tempestuous energy. Yet, he loved to play standards, and much of the fascination in any given Pepper performance is in his bounds-breaking intellectual energy as he forges new ideas in a conventional framework. This collection is full of examples of Pepper's heat, but it also presents the troubadour who could caress a standard ballad like "Here's That Rainy Day" or "Imagination." It includes two of his encounters with Miles Davis rhythm sections, a piece from the lauded Art Pepper + Eleven and a riveting live version of "Over the Rainbow," a song in which throughout his career he kept finding deeper meaning.