Art Pepper: Notes From a Jazz Survivor

In this moving documentary souvenir of the man and his music, Art Pepper speaks frankly and unsentimentally about his tortured history - his fight against heroin addiction, prison stretches, chaotic emotional affairs, bouts of depression - and still proclaims his love of life. And this rings true whenever he lifts his sax to his lips. Whether in a tight, funky blues, a plaintive Parker-ish ballad that fragments into Dolphy-like wailings, or a fast bebop shuffle, Pepper blows with an intense joy, power and passion. Avoiding adulation, this is an intelligent epitaph to a brave, restless and remarkable man.