Art Pepper

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section Japan Import edition

Art Pepper plays on this 1957 classic with Miles Davis' legendary rhythm section, consisting of Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Even though the recordings were made on very short notice and under difficult conditions, Pepper and the trio fired each other up so exquisitely that the album is considered a milestone in the alto saxophonist's career, and not without reason. In this session, Pepper moved somewhat out of the musical framework of his idols Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz and spoke his very own language, as in the sensitive interpretation of "Imagination," in the Latin swing piece "Tin Tin Deo" or the fast-paced version of "Straight Life."

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.