Sunrise: Ken Peplowski Big Band

Two of Ken Peplowki's biggest inspirations in music have always been Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra and he recorded everything live with the band. Ken liked the adrenaline rush of that style of recording.

Great musicians here who respond well under the pressure of recording, but they all play with individual sounds and styles. ''SUNRISE [Arbors Records] is KEN PEPLOWSKI latest big band effort and it is a beauty. This big band is loaded with many of NYC's finest jazz folk including Jon Gordon, John Allred, Bob Millikan, Jon-Erik Kellso, Randy Reinhart, Ehud Asherie, Chuck Redd and Nicki Parrott. As fine as that band may be, their solo talents are not exploited here, that juiciness remains the province of Peplowski. Over the 12 tracks [68:21] it is Peplowski who mostly takes the solo honors, there are exceptions to that rule, especially on The Eternal Triangle which sports several energetic solos. There is not much to fault here or say except if you don't love clarinet and mainstream big band you will not treasure this CD. Complimenting this production are Peplowski's liner notes.''

Bob Rusch -- Cadence Magazine

10/25/2018

NIGHT LIFE

Ken Peplowski

The clarinet basically died out as a leading jazz instrument after the bebop onslaught of the mid-forties, but a player like Peplowski makes you wonder why. With a tone like finely woven silk, wondrous technical agility, and an itching curiosity that encompasses the stylistic breadth of mainstream jazz, Peplowski can take his outsider horn in any direction he cares to. (He plays a galloping tenor saxophone as well.) Here, Peplowski lands himself in luxury by approaching both classic and overlooked work from the heyday of American popular song.

Steve Futterman

The New Yorker