Art Last Concert

This was a huge Kool Jazz Festival
> featuring,Miles, MJQ, Dexter, Getz,  Herbie, Dizzy et al.........
> literallly a who's-who of the scene in '82. All the various halls of the
> center were being used at the same time, so you had to get up and run to
> another hall to see a portion of another set. All the acts played for
> one hour.....that was it. This was a one day deal.....cost 56 bucks for
> the whole day, which was pretty steep for the time, but well worth it.
> Anyway, Art was scheduled for 9:30 at Eisenhour Theatre, which meant
> getting up from the middle of Benny Goodman and running upstairs to get
> a seat. Tough to get up on Benny, but I had just read Straight Time, so
> I had to see this guy. Art came on with Roger Kellaway, Carl Burnett and
> David Williams and was just fantastic. I had never seen him perform.
> Great set, amazing. After an hour, that was it.....tight time
> schedule.....had to get off..... but Art wouldn't quit! He just kept
> playing.  They kept signaling him to finish up, but he wouldn't stop.The
> house lights were turned up to give him a hint.....no luck, he was into
> it.....finally, at the end of his song, somebody came out and told him
> that was it and boy was he pissed. He cussed the guy out and stomped
> off. Man, he was hot. Gave this guy the business and then that was it.
> Zoot Simms came on  right after that, so we thought Art might come out
> and blow with Zoot, but no luck. He had split.We were pretty stoked, we
> had  seen a true, living legend at his peak, the great Art Pepper! That
> next week, I read in the local papers that Art passed on and it blew me
> away. I knew that DC had to have been one of his last shows, but was
> never really sure if that was his last gig or not. Years later, in the
> revised edition of Straight Life, Laurie Pepper tells that, indeed, the
> DC Kool Festival was his last time on stage. They went home to
> California and he never played in publc again. After all the stuff he
> had been through in his life, they had to boot him off the stage. I'll
> never forget it.....it was like he knew that this was his last time out
> and he didn't want it to end.....they had to haul him off.....kicking
> all the way, can you believe it? Kind of makes sense, though, after the
> life he had lived. Every time I hear his music, I think of him giving
> them hell and that pissed-off look on his face. What a guy. What a way
> to go. Keep up the good work.
>
>              Bill Weiss, Lawrence, KS
>