About three months after cutting his seminal Meets the Rhythm Section in January 1957, Art went in and cut another record for an audiophile label which put the session out on a very limited basis on reel to reel in nascent stereo. So not many heard it until the Japanese reissued it in 1975 (pictured) and then Blue Note finally gave it an American LP release in 1980 as Alpha Omega.
Shortly after this session Pepper pulled one of his many disappearing acts and went to jail. His sessions in the late 50s are few and far between. He was a heroin junkie pretty much his entire adult life until his body gave out.
This record (augmented by the Japanese with another lp of previously unissued remainders from the same sessions) is a delight.
