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…
With the wind whipping up along the river Lagan, Thelonious Monk would have worn a long coat and hat to wrap up had he played Brilliant Corners, the new Belfast, Northern Ireland, festival on March 21–23 honoring the great composer and pianist’s classic album. Festival Director Brian Carson presented the event in three venues: the Belfast barge, an old converted cargo boat moored on Lanyon quay, the newly opened Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) in the Cathedral Quarter and the nearby Black Box on Hill Street, all of which are blessed with excellent sightlines.
The Confiance, the barge’s real name, couldn’t have been a more fitting site for this adventurous program. The fest served as a stage for fresh talent such as post-rock duo The Continuous Battle Of Order, who performed on opening night. Over on the barge near Belfast’s landmark Waterfront Hall, saxophonist Meilana Gillard’s Fine Print outfit also made a confident start. Gillard, who now resides in Northern Ireland, was joined by bassist and film composer Marcos Varela, who appears on Gillard’s Greg Osby-produced quintet album Day One (Innercircle Music). Sounding like Christian McBride at times, Varela pushed the band hard and tastefully as Gillard’s tenor saxophone probed and darted with a salty edge, especially in her cultured reading of Herman Hupfeld’s “As Time Goes By.” Irish drummer David Lyttle, best known for his work with altoist Soweto Kinch, rounded out the trio on “Rear View” the big highlight of the first set.
A short distance away at the MAC, saxophonist Mark Lockheart’s Ellington In Anticipation band was already burning. A superb septet, which features Lockheart’s fellow Polar Bear band mates, drummer Seb Rochford and bassist Tom Herbert, the band reinterpreted Juan Tizol’s classic tune “My Caravan” with very advanced harmony and an open feel. A talking point of the first set was how pianist Liam Noble, plucking the strings inside the piano, achieved a melodic and percussive effect syncopating pungently with Margrit Hasler’s violin lines. Rochford’s choppy beat was carefully measured throughout, and Herbert took it deeper time and time again with immaculate poise and timing. Lockheart blew wildly on “Jungle Lady” in a reedist lineup that drew out the best from altoists Finn Peters and Golden Age of Steam’s James Allsopp.
Free improvisation at the Black Box venue rounded out the opening evening. Decoy, the organ trio of Alexander Hawkins, best known for his work with Ethiopian jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, reunited with Mulatu bandmate bassist John Edwards, and completing the trio here with drummer Steve Noble for Hawkins’ first Northern Ireland appearance. Hawkins told Downbeat later that the organ had given him some problems during set-up in the afternoon, but that didn’t seem to hamper the Oxford- based musician much. With a taste for Sun Ra, the nihilism of Edwards’ nourishing fast anti-beat sustaining kinetically charged chords, and Noble’s ping-ponging rhythms all contributed to an aggressively satisfying attack. Hawkins more or less kissed the keys of the organ at the end, the instrument having responded at last. Monk would surely have warmed to Hawkins’ attitude.
—Stephen Graham
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.”
Feb 3, 2026 12:15 AM
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…
