Ken Peplowski

Ken Peplowski stands among the foremost clarinetists and tenor saxophonists dedicated to preserving small-group swing and classic jazz traditions. He surfaced on the New York scene in the opening years of the 1980s, issuing his first recording with the 1988 album Double Exposure while sharing bandstands with an array of jazz and pop figures that includes Charlie Byrd, Scott Hamilton, Howard Alden, Nicki Parrott, Cheryl Bentyne, Rosemary Clooney, Benny Goodman, and Madonna. Across the years he has issued numerous acclaimed small-ensemble jazz and standards collections, among them 1993’s Steppin’ with Peps, 2001’s Sensitive to the Touch: The Music of Harold Arlen, and 2011’s In Search Of.... In 2018 he directed a large ensemble on Sunrise, joined pianist Dick Hyman for the 2019 duet album Counterpoint, and realized previously unrecorded string charts originally commissioned by Charlie Parker on the 2024 release Unheard Bird.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1959, Peplowski made his first professional appearance at age ten and performed locally in a Polish polka band alongside his brother Ted. He later recalled that performing with this ensemble taught him the fundamentals of improvisation. While still in high school he began exploring jazz through the school’s stage bands and informal sessions with area players. At the same time he gave lessons at a neighborhood music store, appeared in a family group, and took jazz engagements around the city, all while maintaining his daily school schedule.

Following one year of college he entered the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under Buddy Morrow’s direction and remained with the group from 1978 through 1980. During those road years he met Sonny Stitt and studied privately with him. In 1980 Peplowski relocated to New York, where he worked as a freelance musician across settings that ranged from Dixieland to avant-garde jazz. When Benny Goodman emerged from retirement in 1984 to assemble a new orchestra, he engaged Peplowski on tenor saxophone.

Peplowski signed with Concord in 1987; his first album for the label, Double Exposure, appeared the following year in a quintet format. He would ultimately record ten leader dates for Concord, several of which featured Charlie Byrd, Scott Hamilton, or Howard Alden, and he also contributed as a sideman to sessions by Mel Tormé, Susanna McCorkle, George Shearing, and Hank Jones. The 1992 collaborative album Groovin’ High with Hamilton and Spike Robinson received strong critical notice and multiple jazz award nominations, as did the subsequent co-led project with Alden issued the next year. Additional Concord releases included 1992’s The Natural Touch, 1993’s Steppin’ with Peps, and 1995’s It’s a Lonesome Old Town; his final Concord recording, the 1999 Goodman tribute Last Swing of the Century, was followed by the Arbors date The Feeling of Jazz, shared with Tommy Newsom.

Over the ensuing fifteen years Peplowski toured extensively throughout Asia, the United States, and Europe, fronting his own groups and supporting other headline artists. He continued to record as a sideman and issued leader projects on several labels, among them Victoria Company, Venus Records, and Capri Records. Standout sessions from this period include 2001’s Sensitive to the Touch: The Music of Harold Arlen, recorded with Jay Leonhart, Ted Rosenthal, and Grady Tate, and 2004’s Easy to Remember with Bobby Short on the Nagel Heyer label. In 2006 he joined the Eddie Higgins Quintet for It’s Magic and remained with the pianist until Higgins’s death in 2009. During 2008 Peplowski appeared on Marianne Faithfull’s Easy Come, Easy Go and Marilyn Scott’s Every Time We Say Goodbye, released Gypsy Lamento with the Ken Peplowski Gypsy Jazz Band, and followed it in 2009 with Noir Blue.

In 2011 he presented In Search Of..., leading a trio completed by pianist Shelly Berg, bassist Tom Kennedy, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. Although long valued as a collaborator by vocalists ranging from Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney to Madonna and Cuban singer Isaac Delgado, he worked during subsequent seasons with Carol Welsman, Cheryl Bentyne, Nicki Parrott, and Katie Thiroux. In 2014 he received the Sarasota Jazz Festival’s “Satchmo” award for his “unique and enduring contribution to the living history of jazz,” and in 2015 HotHouse Magazine named him clarinetist of the year via its “Fans Decision Jazz Award.”

Peplowski resumed recording under his own name in 2018 with the big-band album Sunrise on Arbors, issued that March; the set contained favorite large-ensemble charts either commissioned by him or written for him, together with several long-desired pieces he had not previously recorded. The following year he paired with pianist Dick Hyman for Counterpoint, a collection of Lerner & Loewe duets. In 2024 he issued Unheard Bird, featuring string arrangements originally commissioned by Charlie Parker yet never previously recorded. Also that year the concert recording Live at Mezzrow documented a New York club performance alongside pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Martin Wind, and drummer Willie Jones III.