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- The late Mel Torme´said, "Since the advent of Benny
Goodman,there have been too few clarinetists to fill
the void that Goodman left. Ken Peplowski is most
certainly one of those few. The man is magic. "The New
York Times pronounced a concert of Ken's "Goodman
Straight Up, With A Twist Of Lightning. "These quotes
only hint at Ken Peplowski's virtuosity - not only is
he an outstanding clarinetist and saxophone player, but
he's also a charismatic entertainer who has been
delighting audiences for over 30 years with his
warmth, wit, and musicianship.
"When you grow up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in a
Polish polka band, you learn to think fast on your feet",
says Peplowski, who played his first pro engagement
when he was still in elementary school. "From my first
time performing in public, I knew I wanted to play music
for a living."
Ken, and his trumpet-playing brother Ted, made many local
radio and TV appearances and played for Polish dances and
weddings virtually every weekend all through high-school.
"That's where I learned to improvise, 'fake' songs, learn
about chord changes, etc.- it's exactly like learning to
swim by being thrown into the water!"
By the time Ken was in his early teens, he was experimenting
with jazz by playing in the school "stage" bands, and also by
jamming with many of the local jazz musicians. "By the time I
hit high school, I was teaching at the local music store,
playing in our family band, and playing jazz gigs around town
while still getting up early every day for school."
After a year of college, Ken joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
under the direction of Buddy Morrow. "Buddy heard me with my
quartet at a Cleveland jazz festival along with Teddy Wilson's
trio and the Dorsey band, and made an offer right then and there
for me to not only play lead alto, but to have a feature spot
on the clarinet with the rhythm section. It was a great
'road-school' - we learned the discipline that goes with
playing one-nighters every day for 48 weeks out of the year,
and Buddy was a great, very generous bandleader."
Peplowski met Sonny Stitt while on the road with the Dorsey
band, and studied with him. "He was, and is, an inspiration to
all of of us who make a living 'on the road' - I've never
heard anybody play with such amazing consistency as Sonny,
through all kinds of settings."
In 1980, Ken moved to New York City,and was soon playing in all
kinds of settings, from Dixieland to avant-garde jazz.
"Everything's a learning experience in jazz music - there's
always an element of the unpredictable." In 1984, Benny Goodman
came out of retirement and put together a new band, hiring Ken on
tenor saxophone. "I think Benny was as great a figure to the
clarinet as Louis Armstrong was to the trumpet. He was an
extremely tough band leader, but he was as demanding on himself
as he was on us - if you showed him respect and were there to
play his music for him, he respected you back, and I have yet
to work with anyone else that could get such great results out
of a band. Part of the key to unlocking the enigma of Benny
was that he thought about music pretty much 24 hours a day, and
sometimes that was to the exclusion of personal relationships.
I liked him a lot, though, and he actually tried to get me signed
to a record deal (with him as producer!) before I'd signed with
anyone else."
Peplowski wound up signing with Concord Records,under the tutelage
of Carl Jefferson, the founder and president, and recorded close
to 20 albums as a leader, including "The Natural Touch" in 1992
which won Best Jazz Record of the Year by the Prises Deutschen
Schallplatten Kritiken, and "The Other Portrait", recorded in
Sophia Bulgaria with the symphony orchestra and highlighting Ken's
classical side. His last two records were "Lost In The Stars" and
"Easy To Remember" (on Nagel Heyer Records), the latter of which
features Bobby Short on his last recording. "I loved Bobby Short's
approach to the American songbook, and we'd talked about doing a
record together for a while - I'm glad we got this one 'in the can.'
"What's in the future? "Who knows? I love all kinds of music, and
I'd like to find more oppurtunities to bridge the gaps between
different musical styles - I consider myself an interpreter of
material - if something interests me, I try to put my own spin
on it, without thinking or worrying about playing in any particular
style. Basically, I like a challenge, I'm a sucker for a good
melody, and I love playing for audiences, big or small."
And he has certainly achieved these goals, be it in small clubs,
the Hollywood Bowl (where he played a sold-out concert), headlining
in Las Vegas, the Newport Jazz Festival, pops concerts, European
festivals´ clubs, or at home in NYC doing everything from playing
on the soundtracks to Woody Allen movies, to taking on the role
of music director for interactive French and Italian cookbooks
("Menus And Music").
The litany of musicians Ken has collaborated with includes:
Mel Torme, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing,
Madonna,Hank Jones,Dave Frishberg,Rosemary Clooney,Tom Harrell,
James Moody,Cedar Walton,Houston Person,Steve Allen Woody Allen,
& Erich Kunzel. ("Although not necessarily in that order," says Ken).
Peplowski also does many workshops for students of all ages-
"My goal is to get the students to learn how to teach themselves,
and to learn how to bring out their own best qualities; after all,
jazz is about individuality-first you learn the rules, then you
break them. I would like to think that I never stop learning, myself!"
To quote the Jazz Journal International, "Ken Peplowski is one of
those fine young Americans who are currently setting so much of
the pace in all that's good in jazz.
Ken Peplowski is a Buffet-Crampon artist, and plays the R-13
clarinet,with a Portnoy mouthpiece and Van Doren German-cut reeds.
He also plays a Yamaha tenor sax and a Berg Larsen mouthpiece.
"Ken's next CD will be a ballad record on tenor sax and clarinet
for Venus Records, and is coming out soon.
Ken's new releases include "Memories Of You" on Venus Records,
and 2 upcoming releases "Little Dogs" with Greg Cohen and a 2-CD
set on Venus Records.
He is receiving a lifetime acheivement award at the Elkhart Jazz
Festival and is musical director for "The Jazz Cruise", the
Oregon Festival of American Music, and the Eugene Oregon
Jazz Festival.
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