Art Pepper

(1925 - 1982)

Art Pepper starting playing the alto saxophone at the age of twelve, and within a few years, in 1940, he was one of the only white musicians among the players who performed in the thriving jazz clubs on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. He took his first studio-recorded solo in 1943 and served two years in the military during World War II. Pepper first tried heroin in 1950 and was arrested in 1952, later spending several years at San Quentin State Prison. He recorded his most celebrated albums in the late 1950s.