[Dixielandjazz] Ken Peplowski & the Goodman Concerts

[Steve barbone]

Peps has been doing the "Goodman" thing for a number of years. (at least
since 1997) Here is a review in the NY TIMES of one of these Goodman
concerts from 1999. Note that Ben Ratliff is the reviewer. He RARELY
condescends to review OKOM because in his opinion, it is "backward looking".

Well, he gives Peps his due in this review, managed to like it, said the
audience (mostly "modern jazz fans probably) liked it too because when
discussing the band's not copying of Goodman solos, but playing their own,
he says: 

"With long, intertwining lines, they were like daredevil pilots in an air
show, and their interplay excited the crowd more palpably than almost
anything else Monday evening."

Be sure to see the 2006 version in action if you can. Ken Peplowski is one
of the very top Reedmen in the world for OKOM and beyond.

Cheers,
Steve 


JAZZ FESTIVAL REVIEW; Goodman Straight Up, With a Twist of Lightning

NY TIMES - By BEN RATLIFF - June 16, 1999

Twenty-five years after jazz-repertory concerts became common occurrences,
their logistics have become highly nuanced. At a concert honoring the work
of a famous jazz composer, you often hear shrewd selections of little-known
pieces strung together by a theme, or artful modern rearrangements of old
favorites that steer familiar melodies through houses of mirrors. So Ken
Peplowski's presentation of Benny Goodman's big-band music at the Kaye
Playhouse, which opened the JVC Jazz Festival on Monday night, was a
throwback to the beginning of the jazz repertory idea, when
scholar-musicians simply gave an audience what it wanted.

Fourteen musicians played transcriptions of Goodman music from the late
30's; the audience identified with the mainstream music of its youth.
Nothing tricky, nothing fancy.

As in previous years, opening the JVC festival with five days of mostly
prewar jazz concerts at the Kaye Playhouse seems to be the festival producer
George Wein's thank you to a devoted section of his audience. These little
concerts are the sure-fire hits of the festival; the scale of the theater is
perfect for considerations of sound and attendance.

The band toured Japan performing this music last year, and the playing was
tight, if not virtuosic. The superior arrangements, using the whole band as
a set of moving pistons to build the effect of the swing rhythms, were by
Fletcher Henderson; they included ''Between the Devil and the Deep Blue
Sea'' and ''King Porter Stomp.'' There were impressive non-Henderson
moments: in Spud Murphy's arrangement of ''Get Happy,'' the entire concept
of the reed and brass sections changed every four bars, giving the subtle
changes in color that the evening needed.

The formalism of these three-minute pieces could grow wearying, but the
soloists filtered their own latter-day sensibilities into brief
improvisations. Todd Bashore played fast, curling be-bop phrases on his alto
saxophone, and Scott Robinson took a turn on tenor saxophone in ''Sing,
Sing, Sing'' that filled the air with modern-sounding narrative and harmonic
ambiguities. 

Mr. Peplowski, a clarinetist deeply influenced by Goodman's playing in its
deceptive lightness and clear phrasing, introduced variations as well.

In ''Blue Room,'' he had a duet with the bassist Greg Cohen, who then had a
duet with the drummer Chuck Redd. Later, he invited the pianist Dick Hyman
up from the audience for a duet on ''Tiger Rag,'' and Mr. Hyman's fluidly
ambidextrous improvisations thrilled the crowd.

With long, intertwining lines, they were like daredevil pilots in an air
show, and their interplay excited the crowd more palpably than almost
anything else Monday evening.