All Things Considered has a report on a new film about the late jazz saxophonist Art Pepper. His widow, Laurie Pepper, based the film on Pepper’s autobiography, Straight Life, about his career and struggles with drug addiction (not unlike many of his musical peers). But what makes the film project even more interesting is that Mrs. Pepper put it together on her home computer. She’s also been posting clips and revised versions of them as a work in progress on YouTube.com.  You can watch the first clip she posted here.

Also, read here in Fred Kaplan’s article from the New York Times about the efforts of Laurie Pepper and Sue Graham Mingus (widow of bassist/composer Charles Mingus) to keep their husbands’ music alive.