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…
Saxophonist Howard Wiley brings a jazz take to Alan Lomax’s 1950s field recordings for his new disc, The Angola Project . Wiley performs songs from the Lomax-compiled Angola Prison Spirituals alongside his own compositions, which he says derive from the field recordings.
“The recordings were some of the most powerful and original music I’d ever heard,” Wiley said. “The technique of allowing the melody/soloist to dictate the tempo of a song which changes with each solo transected spiritually with what I hear when I listen to Mahalia Jackson and John Coltrane.”
Other participants on the disc include saxophonist David Murray, vocalist Faye Carol, bassist Dave Ewell, drummer Sly Randolph and trumpeter Geechi Taylor.
For more information on Howard Wiley go to www.howardwiley.com
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…
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