"When you grow up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in a Polish polka band, you learn to think fast on your feet", says Ken 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. 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. 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.Peplowski signed 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. He also recorded two records on the Nagel Heyer label, "Lost In The Stars" and "Easy To Remember", 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. 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 of myself as a lifelong student!" 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.
Sax, Clarinet