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"... a poetic, burning date, with all four men playing above themselves…. Between them, they'd delivered a masterpiece." - The Penguin Jazz Guide "... an honest record; if you believe the story of its making, you'd have to conclude that Pepper, unprepared and unarmored, was forced to pull the music out of himself, since tepid run-throughs and stock licks weren't going to work in such exalted company." - The New York Times Craft Recordings presents a new re-release of Art Pepper's classic, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section. The 1957 jazz album was recorded by saxophonist Art Pepper with Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, who were the rhythm section for Miles Davis's quintet at the time. The album is considered a milestone in Pepper's career. According to Pepper, the album was recorded under enormous pressure, as he first learned of the recording session the morning he was due in the studio, and he had never met the other musicians, all of whom he greatly admired.  He was playing on an instrument in a bad state of repair, and was suffering from a drug problem. Purportedly, Pepper had not played the saxophone for some time, either for two weeks (according to the liner notes), or six months (according to Pepper's autobiography Straight Life). However, the discography in Straight Life indicates that Pepper had recorded many sessions in the previous weeks, including one five days earlier.