ART PEPPER: LAST CONCERT
Kool Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
In his autobiography, "Straight Life," Art said:
"[As a child,] I built up my own play world. I loved sports, and I'd play I was a boxer or a football player. …Boxing was the one I really got carried away with. At that time Joe Louis was coming up as a heavyweight. I would go out in the garage and pretend I was a fighter. I had a little box I sat on. I'd hear an imaginary bell and get up in this old garage and fight, and it was actually as if I was in the ring. Sometimes I'd get hit and fall down and be stunned, and I'd hear the referee counting, and I'd get up at the last minute, and just when everybody thought I was beaten, I'd catch my opponent with a left hook. And then I'd have him against the ropes. I'd knock him out, and everybody would scream and throw money into the ring and holler for me, and I'd hold my hands together and wave to the crowd."
On May 30, 1982, Art Pepper performed in the last concert of his last tour. This is the concert. |