Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative PCR COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of the event will be required to attend this performance.
Announcing a new and improved Jazz in the Box Series for Season 27.
Ken Peplowski brings his sweet clarinet and it’s blend of jazzy Big Band style tunes… and more. His professional career began in elementary school— in a polka band!— and he has played everything from Mozart to French folk tunes. He has played with a long list of wonderful performers, directed several jazz festivals, soloed on over 70 CDs and been a side man on almost 400!
Joining Ken Peplowski on the piano is Ted Rosenthal. Ted Rosenthal is one of the leading jazz pianist/composers of his generation. He has performed worldwide as soloist, with his trio, and with many jazz greats including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, and James Moody. Winner of the Thelonious Monk International Competition, Rosenthal has released 15 critically acclaimed CDs as a leader. His latest, Rhapsody in Gershwin, reached #1 on iTunes and Amazon. Rosenthal has been a featured soloist with major orchestras including the Detroit Symphony and Phoenix Symphony.
After each performance, join us for Cocktails & Conversation in the main lobby. This is an opportunity to visit with other concert goers and when available, the Jazz in the Box artists. Drinks will be available for purchase at the lobby bar.
More about Ken Peplowski
“Ken Peplowski is arguably the greatest living jazz clarinetist!”
— RUSSELL DAVIES, BBC2, AUGUST 2013
“When you grow up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in a Polish polka band, you learn to think fast on your feet,” says Ken Peplowski, who played his first pro engagement when he was still in elementary school. “From my first time performing in public, I knew I wanted to play music for a living.”
By the time Ken was in his early teens, he was experimenting with jazz by playing in the school “stage” bands and also by jamming with many of the local jazz musicians. “By the time I hit high school, I was teaching at the local music store, playing in our family band, and playing jazz gigs around town while still getting up early every day for school.”
After a year of college, Ken joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow. Peplowski met Sonny Stitt while on the road with the Dorsey band and studied with him. “He was, and is, an inspiration to all of us who make a living ‘on the road.’ I’ve never heard anybody play with such amazing consistency as Sonny, through all kinds of settings.” In 1980, Ken moved to New York City and was soon playing all kinds of jazz—from traditional to avante-garde—in all kinds of settings. In 1984, Benny Goodman came out of retirement to put together a new band and hired Ken on tenor saxophone.
The litany of musicians Ken has collaborated with includes Mel Tormé, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Madonna, Hank Jones, Dave Frishberg, Rosemary Clooney, Tom Harrell, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Houston Person, Steve Allen, Bill Charlap, Woody Allen, Marianne Faithfull, Isaac Delgado, and Erich Kunzel. (“Although not necessarily in that order,” says Ken).
Ken’s new CD is called Sunrise, and it’s a big band record of new arrangements written exclusively for him, plus some reworking of classic arrangements. His upcoming CD is a duo record with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figuereido entitled Amizade.
Ken is currently the artistic director of the Sarasota Jazz Festival, the Newport Beach Jazz Party, and the Newport, Oregon, Jazz Festival. He has also been bestowed this year’s “Creative Arts Prize in Recognition of Outstanding Contribution in the Field of the Creative Arts” by the Polish American Historical Association.
“Brilliantly entertaining!”
— DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2017
The hottest little jazz club around is GPAC’s Jazz in the Box! Featuring both new and well-established artists, Jazz in the Box gives you an opportunity to get up close and personal with live jazz.
