Jazz Articles about Ken Peplowski

like 484

Ken Peplowski: Good Times On the Road For Reed Virtuoso

by Larry Taylor
July 17, 2008

This is the best of times for jazz musician Ken Peplowski, renowned clarinet and tenor saxophonist. So good, in fact it was difficult for him to find time to talk by phone in June.

Having just returned from playing dates in Italy, he was in the midst of performing in New York's JVC Jazz Festival and cutting a CD with the Bill Charlap Trio. “It never rains but it pours, but it is great to be ...

like 191

Ken Peplowski: Easy to Remember

by Elliott Simon
January 6, 2005

Ken Peplowski is perhaps the best of an albeit too short list of baby-boomer swing clarinetists. On Easy to Remember he adeptly doubles on tenor and fronts a quintet of four like-minded musicians who similarly value musicianship and melody. Pianist Ted Rosenthal and guitarist Joe Cohn share frontline duties, while bassist Joe Fitzgerald and drummer Jeff Brillinger provide a steady rhythmic accompaniment to the varied agenda. Cabaret vocal king Bobby Short displays his mastery of diction and time ...

like 282

Ken Peplowski: Taking Back Music

by AAJ Staff
September 2, 2004

Ken Peplowski We live in a time where virtually everything is available to everyone (anytime) at the touch of a fingertip. Because the computer age has revolutionized the speed at which we both process information and produce information, there are a significantly greater number of choices available to the “entertainment consumer". Along with this glut of possibilities, a new way of listening to music has evolved. In the ages-old tradition of putting the cart ...

like 152

Ken Peplowski: Easy to Remember

by J. Robert Bragonier
July 18, 2004

Clarinetist Ken Peplowski can be counted on for about one new record a year; it apparently takes him most of that year to decide on material to include on the next album. Peps has been a staple in the jazz world for quite some time, having debuted at age 10 in 1969 in his home town of Cleveland, OH, and toured with Tommy Dorsey's ghost band (led by Buddy Morrow) in the late '70s, before settling in New York. The ...

like 178

Ken Peplowski: Easy To Remember

by Mark F. Turner
June 23, 2004

The word “sublime" comes to mind when listening to the new recording by Ken Peplowski. One of today's premier clarinetists, the sound that he creates from his woodwind instrument is simply a pleasant and joyful experience. His new release Easy To Remember finds the clarinetist (and saxophonist) in a quintet setting featuring selections with a relaxed feel, mixing ballads and slightly upbeat tempos. Two vocal selections are included in the title section sung by renowned singer Bobby Short and a ...

like 89

Ken Peplowski Quartet: Lost In the Stars

by C. Michael Bailey
October 2, 2002

Straight-ahead clarinet-lead quartet...

One of the finest clarinetists to emerge in since the 1990s, Ken Peplowski has not so much redefined the jazz clarinet as rejuvenate it in the mainstream. The majority of his recent recordings have focused on Benny Goodman and swing-era music (hear last Swing of the Century , Tribute to Benny Goodman Volumes 1 & 2 on Nagel Heyer). He has taken a turn into the more modern sounds, performing with Randy Sandke and his Inside Out ...

like 91

Various: The International Allstars Play Benny Goodman, Volume Two

by Dave Nathan
January 1, 2002

This is the other shoe dropping on the International Allstars tribute to Benny Goodman and the various small groups he headed. This album comes from the same live concert in Hamburg that produced Volume 1 released in 2000. Obviously there was enough for two CDs and why they weren't packaged as a 2 CD set is puzzling. But no one can point the finger at Nagel Heyer claiming that they were trying to get 2 CDs where one would suffice. ...