Surf Ride is an early look at a giant of jazz — the great West Coast altoist Art Pepper — who recorded over a 30-year period, but who is likely, and unfortunately, remembered as much for his personal problems and incarceration as for his music.

This is West Coast bop at its best: jumping, exuberant mostly up-tempo music. Pepper was one of the most distinctive saxophonists around during this period of his career and he's in fine form on these recordings, some of his first sessions as a leader. Pepper is heard in quartets on the first six tracks ably supported by the great pianist Hampton Hawes on the first three, and then russ freeman on the next three. The last six tracks feature pep in a quintet with Jack Montrose on tenor and Claude Williamson on piano.

Track Listing
Side 1
Tickle Toe
Chili Pepper
Susie The Poodle
Brown Gold
Holiday Flight
Surf Ride

Side 2
Straight Life
Cinnamon
Thyme Time
The Way You Look Tonight
Nutmeg
Art's Oregano