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 super group bassist Martin Wind assembled to play on Stars, from left: drummer Matt Wilson, clarinetist Anat Cohen, Wind and pianist Kenny Barron.
(Photo: Anna Yatskevich)From his native Flensburg, Germany, where he was born in 1968, to establishing a lasting presence on the New York jazz scene, where he has resided since 1996, bassist and composer Martin Wind has amassed an impressive list of credentials.
With 30 albums as a leader or co-leader and over 90 as a sideman, he has been a longstanding member of trios led by pianists Bill Mays, Dena DeRose, Bill Cunliffe and Ted Rosenthal while also playing in drummer Matt Wilson’s various bands and collaborating with the recently departed saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski. Wind, who is also on the faculty at New York University and Hofstra University, has somehow found time to release two new recordings of his own, simultaneously.
Stars serves as an all-star outing featuring clarinetist Anat Cohen, longtime collaborator Wilson and piano elder statesman Kenny Barron. As the bassist wrote in the liner notes of this Newvelle Records release: “When I moved to New York City almost 30 years ago it was a dream of mine to one day share sounds with the super elegant and tasteful, always swinging maestro of the keys, Mr. Kenny B, who is like the Rolls Royce of jazz piano. You play with him and it’s just so comfortable and so smooth. Needless to say, the experience surpassed my expectations.”
Wind’s other recent release, September (on the German label Laika Records), features his longtime collaborator Peter Weniger, a Berlin-based tenor saxophonist whom he first met in 1988 when both were founding members of the German National Youth Orchestra, alongside Cologne-based drummer Jonas Burgwinkel, a more recent discovery who played alongside Weniger on Wind’s 2022 Laika album, Gravity. Special guest Scott Robinson, a member of Wind’s quartet since 2007, appears on four tracks. “We’re neighbors here in Teaneck, New Jersey. We have the same birthday. We are kind of connected at the hip,” said Wind of Robinson. “Scott is just one of the most in-the-moment players that I know, and I thought it would be great to bring him in and light some fire under Peter’s ass.”
Robinson goes toe-to-toe with fellow tenorist Weniger on the hard-boppish “Relay” before settling into the gorgeous ballad “September Serenade” (Wind’s tribute to the late Jim McNeely, who died last September). Elsewhere on September, Robinson explodes with Ayler-esque fury on the freewheeling “Rugby,” then plays clarinet on a swinging version of Joe Zawinul’s “Frog Legs.”
Stars and September represent two decidedly different sides of Wind’s musical personality — one being a little more refined, the other being a little wilder, rawer and edgier.
When asked about Wind’s formidable “walk of doom,” which figures prominently on both albums, being reminiscent of Dave Holland’s playing, the bassist responded, “That’s interesting because Dave plays on the album that really got me hooked on Kenny Barron and made me want to play with him so badly. It was an unbelievably swinging trio album of Kenny’s from 1985 called Scratch on Enja Records with Dave on bass and Daniel Humair on drums.”
Wind had similar praise for clarinetist Cohen, who plays brilliantly throughout Stars, particularly on Wind’s lovely waltz “Life,” on the poignant ballad “Pra Dizer a Deus” by Brazilian MPB composer Edu Lobo and on Duke Ellington’s “Black Butterfly,” which has her channeling Sidney Bechet. “She’s just such a natural musician, and I love her sound,” said Wind. “We got introduced by Michael Bourne [the late DownBeat contributor and longtime on-air presence at jazz radio WBGO in Newark, New Jersey]. Michael booked the three of us for his Jazz on the Mountain event (an annual January festival that he hosted starting in 2000 at Mohonk Mountain House in the Hudson Valley). And it was Matt, Anat and myself that Michael put together for that one-time event, but it really developed into a beautiful thing. We actually did it a week at the Village Vanguard a few years ago, and Anat decided to have it recorded. But then that week, Matt’s wife (violinist and teacher Felicia Wilson) passed away, so he couldn’t play the last two nights. Then everything was put on the shelf and nothing ever happened with it.”
Elsewhere on Stars, Wind waxes nostalgic on his lovely “Standing At The Window Waving Goodbye.” “It was written for my grandmother, who had the habit of whenever we would leave from a visit — you could bet your right arm on it — that she would be at the window, waving as we were driving down the street,” said Wind.
The quirkier September finds Wind collaborating with his German compatriots Weniger and Burgwinkel, as well as multi-reedman Robinson, on loose, playful numbers like Weniger’s “Dance With The Wind,” the jauntily swinging “Relay” and the gorgeous McNeely tribute “September Serenade.”
“There was a concert in his honor on Sept. 10 that [McNeely] was still able to attend,” Wind recalled. “And it was just a really moving experience to see the grace and dignity that he and his family showcased at that event. Most of us, when we’re that sick, the natural tendency is to hide. You don’t want to be seen like that. But Jim had the strength to say, ‘You know what? It’s all part of life, and I still want to be here for this event.’ It was just another life lesson that I learned from somebody who I learned a lot from over the years on the bandstand.”
Wind’s bass pulse is particularly pronounced on “Frog Legs.” As a developing player back home in Germany, he called Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen his initial walking-bass role model. “Through Niels I found out that he played with Oscar Peterson, and of course that landed me right at the feet of the great Ray Brown. In terms of the feel, I would say that nobody has influenced me more than he has. In terms of orchestration and choice of notes, I would have to go with Ron Carter. He was another really big influence, so it was a thrill that he agreed to write some notes for that New York Bass Quartet album I did [2022’s Air].”
Other important bass role models that Wind cited included Paul Chambers, Charlie Haden, Marc Johnson and Gary Peacock. “I think it’s important that you listen to many different players so that eventually you come up with your own stew, your own thing,” he said. “When I hear a player and I can tell that he’s been only listening to one guy, then I’d rather listen to that one guy.” DB
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.
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