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…
Trumpeter George “Sonny” Cohn, who played in the Count Basie Orchestra from 1960 to 1984, died on Nov. 7 in Chicago. He was 81.
Cohn, who was born in Chicago, was a regular at such venues as the Regal Theater and Club DeLisa during the 1940s and 1950s where he appeared with such visiting bandleaders as Louis Bellson and Erskine Hawkins. After working in the Basie band as a trumpeter, he also became its road manager in 1974. After leaving the Basie orchestra in the 1990s, he performed with such musicians as Von Freeman.
Alongside Basie, Cohn backed such singers as Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. He has appeared on more than 180 recordings.
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.
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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…
