Jazz Articles about Ken Peplowski

About Ken Peplowski

Album Review

How on earth do you successfully bind the music of Duke Ellington, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fats Waller, Herbie Nichols, Bernard Herrmann, Peter Erskine, and Noël Coward into one coherent statement? The answer is simple: You don't, unless you're Ken Peplowski. Over the course of ten tracks from the aforementioned composers and other well-known tunesmiths, Peplowski manages to simultaneously express his love of myriad sounds and styles, a fondness for days gone by, and an ability to move ever ...

Album Review

Ken Peplowski: Maybe September

Read "Maybe September" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
June 24, 2014

Si colloca in una dimensione sospesa nel limbo dei ricordi, quest'album di Ken Peplowski, senza appartenere strettamente a un'epoca e il celebre quadro in copertina (Gas di Edward Hopper) ne raffigura i tratti in modo esemplare. In quell'opera si vede una stazione di servizio della provincia americana d'anteguerra, posta in un luogo indefinito sul fare del crepuscolo: il bosco è già buio ma la luce calda della casa rende il luogo accogliente e la solitudine serena. Anche Maybe ...

Album Review

Ken Peplowski: Maybe September

Read "Maybe September" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 15, 2013

In a world where celebrities are anointed and dismissed by the shifting whims of the Twitterverse, it's easy to overlook the steady fires that keep the old traditions burning. The retro cover of Maybe September instantly signals that, once again, the ever-superb reedist Ken Peplowski, aided by the invaluable Capri Record label, will be honoring and extending these traditions. But it's not just a matter of blowing the dust off forgotten antiques: he makes splendid and tasteful music out of ...

Multiple Reviews

Four Artists Of The Jazz Clarinet Renaissance

by Dan Bilawsky
September 18, 2013

Since the jazz clarinet never really died, renaissance--or rebirth--may not be the term that best describes what's happening to the instrument in the twenty-first century jazz universe; it is, however, a pretty good one word synopsis. The licorice stick was there at or near the start, tooting along next to the trumpet and trombone in early twentieth century New Orleans front lines, and its popularity carried over into the swing era, as clarinetists Benny Goodman and Artie ...

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Album Review

Ken Peplowski: In Search Of ...

Read "In Search Of ..." reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 13, 2011

The splenetic and hard-nosed clarinetist/bandleader Benny Goodman admired tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski enough to hire the younger musician on for his last performing band, during the mid-1980s. But the Cleveland, Ohio-born and bred Peplowski's main ax was, in fact, the clarinet. He spent a good part of his early career playing in Polish polka bands, and hiring on to play whatever other music jobs that were available. He eventually joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, under the baton of Buddy Morrow, ...

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Album Review

Ken Peplowski: In Search Of ...

Read "In Search Of ..." reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 12, 2011

Ken Peplowski is a clarinet virtuoso, with a tone of such warmth and beauty that it takes only a few bars to create a feel-good atmosphere, either in performance or, as he ably demonstrates on In Search Of ..., in the studio. Although Peplowski has over 20 albums to his name as leader, he's still experimenting, still trying out new ideas--still, presumably, in search of something. The first nine tunes are recordings from a February 2010 quartet ...

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Live Review

Ken Peplowski/Bucky Pizzarelli Quintet at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola

by Dan Bilawsky
November 29, 2010

Ken Peplowski/Bucky Pizzarelli QuintetDizzy's Club Coca-ColaNew York, NYNovember 23, 2010 When the dust has settled on Halloween, the leaves have all fallen off of the trees and the temperature takes a dip, it's clear that Thanksgiving is only a short while away. At Thanksgiving, people come together with family, reunite with old friends and take pause to give thanks for all that we have. Jazz fans in New York go through the same process ...