Something of an Entire Jazz Festival Unto Himself, Ken Peplowski Astounds at Birdland

At the start of the Suncoast Jazz Festival recently, Ken Peplowski was pleased to announce to the crowd assembled that he had officially put some of his recent health troubles behind him: The cancer he had been suffering from had, as of December, been in remission for a full year.This is major good news not just for Mr. Peplowski and for jazz lovers everywhere, but for festival bookers in particular. Mr. Peplowski, who in addition to headlining over the weekend at the Suncoast event, is about to open for a five-night run at Birdland, and also has a new album out. Whether on clarinet or tenor saxophone, Mr. Peplowski is comfortable with just about every subgenre of jazz you’re likely to hear at either a festival or a mainstream club, traditional and New Orleans, Swing and big band, bebop and modern. He’s also an expert at Brazilian music and other forms of world jazz, and is nonpareil at playing behind singers.He had a chance to display all of these talents over the weekend. During three nights and three days, he played roughly seven formal sets, all with different groups and lineups. Clearly, Mr. Peplowski is a man who does not like to stand still: when he is not changing the accompanying ensemble, he’s changing the repertoire. Every year, during his annual Thanksgiving week at Birdland, he keeps the same rhythm section — pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Martin Wind, and drummer Willie Jones III — but he makes a point to feature different songs in each of the 10 sets. This means that between Tuesday and Saturday, Mr. Peplowski will play roughly 100 non-repeating numbers altogether. This he can do because he knows more standards than anybody, including every song ever sung by Frank Sinatra, played by Benny Goodman, or composed by Duke Ellington.Over the weekend, Mr. Peplowski played several sets with vibraphonist Chuck Redd, and the combination of clarinet and vibes gave his ensembles a highly Goodman-esque sound. The opening set on Thursday was distinctly BG-like — in fact, the climax was “Airmail Special” — with New York-based pianist Ehud Asherie, bassist Don Mopsick, and drummer Eddie Metz joining Messrs. Peplowski and Redd. Instead of a guitar, however, there was young violinist Jonathan Russell. An obvious highlight was “All the Things You Are”; normally swung or bopped up à la Charlie Parker, Mr. Peplowski slowed it down into a poignant, romantic ballad.Ken Peplowski, Dave Bennett, and Adrian Cunningham. Stephen SplaneIn a set co-led with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon — plus Mr. Redd and drummer Jason Marsalis — Mr. Peplowski essayed an Ellington-centric program that began with a fast, riffy-blues number called “Squatty-Roo.” They followed with “Perdido,” which seems to have replaced “Caravan” as the number you hear most in jam sessions these days. Mr. Gordon gave us a mournful “I Got It Bad” as his big ballad and they wound up with “The Majesty of the Blues,” a romping Billy Strayhorn tune mainly known to Ducal insiders.One revelation to me was the Florida-based trio La Lucha, representing different nations of the Americas: Mexican pianist John O’Leary, the Colombian bassist Alejandro Arenas, and North American drummer Mark Feinman. The group’s name, which means “The Fight,” indicates that they specialize in Latinx music, but they’re also a fine straight-ahead rhythm section. During one set with La Lucha, Mr. Peplowski played a hauntingly beautiful “When You Wish Upon a Star,” and a hard-swinging, contrapuntal “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams” with Mr. Redd. During another, he played bossa novas on tenor and choros, notably “Tico Tico,” on clarinet.He also played some extraordinary obligatos behind another Tampa talent new to me, the fine vocalist Allison Nash. She swung out convincingly on “Pennies from Heaven,” then also offered an introspective, Bill Evans-influenced “Save Your Love For Me,” and, quelle surprise, a calypso-style treatment of “Steppin’ Out”: Joe Jackson, not Irving Berlin.Mr. Peplowski concluded the festival with a group billed as “Clarinet Clambake” — himself plus the Australian Adrian Cunningham and the Floridian Dave Bennett — a clarinet trio that was the perfect ensemble to interpret, among other tunes, “Mood Indigo” and two “happy” songs by Vincent Youmans, “I Want to Be Happy” and “Sometimes I’m Happy.” The grand finale was a three-clarinet expansion of Goodman’s iconic quartet version of “Avalon,” complete with its famous shout chorus. This could easily become a touring group, like the multiple saxophone tribute to Lester Young, Pres Conference, this could be The King’s Men.Mr. Peplowski’s new album, “Unheard Bird,” is essentially the music he’s played at Birdland for the past few summers, arrangements written for Charlie Parker’s Bird-With-Strings ensemble that were never recorded, played by a string orchestra conducted by Loren Schoenberg with guest trumpeter Terrell Stafford. It’s the rare musician who can honor the music of both Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman with equal acuity. Let’s face it: Ken Peplowski is nothing less than an entire jazz festival all by himself.

Something of an Entire Jazz Festival Unto Himself, Ken Peplowski Astounds at Birdland

Something of an Entire Jazz Festival Unto Himself, Ken Peplowski Astounds at Birdland

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