Feb 3, 2026 12:10 AM
In Memoriam: Ken Peplowski, 1959–2026
Ken Peplowski, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who straddled the worlds of traditional and modern jazz, died Feb. 2…
The Blues Foundation will present the Blues Music Awards May 8, 2008, at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica Resorts, Miss.
Among those heading the list of honorees is Bobby Rush who garnered four nominations. Watermelon Slim & the Workers received six nominations for the second consecutive year with their album of the year candidate The Wheel Man. Koko Taylor returns to form with four nominations, including one for her album of the year nominee Old School. Lurrie Bell also was honored with three nominations, including one he shares with his late father Carey in the newly-created DVD category.
Album of the year nominees include:
Bettye LaVette’s The Scene of the Crime
James Blood Ulmer’s Bad Blood in the City
Koko Taylor’s Old School
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops’ Play It ‘Til Tomorrow
Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan’s On the Jimmy Reed Highway
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones’ My Life, My Friends, My Music
Watermelon Slim & the Workers’ The Wheel Man
More info: blues.org
Peplowski first came to prominence in legacy swing bands, including the final iteration of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, before beginning a solo career in the late 1980s.
Feb 3, 2026 12:10 AM
Ken Peplowski, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who straddled the worlds of traditional and modern jazz, died Feb. 2…
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“I play what I want and what I like,” said Andrew Cyrille. “I use my knowledge artistically and professionally.”
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Midway through August, a few days after concluding a week at the Village Vanguard with the quartet that Andrew Cyrille…
Marsalis will, if he chooses to use it, have a strong voice in perpetuating his vision through a role in choosing his successors.
Feb 3, 2026 12:09 AM
For the better part of a year, rumors have been swirling that Wynton Marsalis was going to step down as artistic and…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
