Charlie Parker died in 1955. He was 34. Art Pepper was 56 when he died in 1982. Now that I’m in my sixties, lifespans have become more significant to me. Only love is more precious than time.
The two abstract qualities are well represented on the previously unreleased Everything Happens to Me: 1959, Live at the Cellar. Each of the 142 minutes represents a love letter to Parker.
The superlative Bird acolyte Art Pepper is accompanied by pianist Chris Gage, bassist Tony Clitheroe and drummer George Ursan at the Vancouver club. Recorded by the venue’s manager and never intended for public consumption, the document is akin to the tapes Dean Benedetti made of Parker.
The low-stakes atmosphere is so ingratiating that I’ve twice listened to the four-hour album without interruption in each of the past two days. Communing with the ghosts of Parker and Pepper will always be time well spent.