"Making a record is, for me at least, never a casual affair - it involves a long, almost year-long process of finding songs that are new to me, re-visiting some "old friends," calling up some favors from my composing colleagues, and throwing in some last-minute surprises.
Some of the "standards" (I guardedly use that word, because that term does dis-service to songs that are so unique) have been kicking around inside my head for years, but it took me a while to get the conceptions down the way I wanted. "Lost In The Stars/When You Wish Upon A Star" is a perfect example. Some songs are so beautiful, all one can do is to just honor the melody - anything more is superfluous. I had long planned on recording "When You Wish..." (in fact, there's an earlier unissued recording laying around in Concord's vault), but when I re-acquainted myself with Frank Sinatra's record of "Lost In The Stars", the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. I think both songs capture a certain sense of melancholy tinged with hope, and Ben Aronov's rendition of "Lost..." is the perfect complement to the great composer Kurt Weill's melody.
The Billy Strayhorn tune came about because a friend of mine, David Hajdu, wrote a great biography of Strayhorn ("Lush Life"), and in the course of his research, unearthed some very obscure, and in some cases, previously unheard, gems. Then, as one does, I traded some rare Bob Dylan interview tapes (laugh, all you jazz purists!) for his Strayhorn finds! I later found out that "...Lotus Eaters" was recorded one time only by Johnny Hodges on a Verve LP back in the 1950's.
Greg Cohen and Ben Aronov, to me, are two largely under-appreciated artists who continue to inspire me no end, and they've both contributed some fascinating compositions to my book (witness the three examples contained here). "Marchons" is an example of a song that we tried to record many times over the years but couldn't get quite right, perhaps because we didn't have the creative spark of Lewis Nash on drums, who always makes everyone else play better by his magnificent presence. He's simply one of the great jazz drummers - ever.
The Morton Goulde piece was given to me by a former student of mine, and comes from a series of 8 short pieces called "Benny's Gig". The bass and clarinet parts are through-composed, but I decided to add a Sam Woodyard-inspired drum ounterpoint - again, kudos to Mr. Nash for taking an idea of mine and vastly improving upon it!
Finally, I'd like to thank all three of these great musicians for their boundless enthusiasm and creativity. But enough talk-I kindly request you listen to our latest effort, and I fervently hope you enjoy it!"
Ken Peplowski, New York City
credits
released January 4, 2021
Ken Peplowski - tenor sax, clarinet
Ben Aronov - piano
Greg Cohen - bass
Lewis Nash - drums
Recorded on November 6 and 7, 2001 at Sound On Sound Studios, New York City.
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