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Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski's Pow-Wow
their new duo recording!
2007 Arbors ARCD 19340
Howard Alden (guitar)
Ken Peplowski(clarinet)
SONGLIST:
Pow Wow,
Dream Dancing,
Did I Remember?
Very Early
Who Knows
After All
Bossango
I See Your Face Before Me
Tempus Fugit
The Land of the Loon
The Things We Did Last Summer
Panama
Lucky to be Me
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This exceptionally good CD warrants the immediate attention of pretty nearly everyone reading this magazine. Teaming two virtuoso players can sometimes engender less than perfect rapport when egos are allowed to get in the way. No such shortcomings here. The pair blends ideally, support one another where appropriate, and deliver some outstanding solos. Although I admire Peplowski's
tenor saxophone work, I confess to a marked preference for his clarinet playing and it certainly pleases me that most tracks find him on this instrument. There is not a weak moment and indeed many of the moments on this set are as good as you will hear this year. For me, Panama is the best but Peplowski's solo outing, I See Your Face Before Me runs a close second. Incidentally, Alden's solo track, The Land Of The Loon, is a very short piece but he solos at length elsewhere. In his review of the Second Norwich Jazz Party in the August 2008 issue of JJI, Martin Richards remarked on hearing '...a wonderful set from Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski which produced a chamber jazz sound that was both beautiful and intense. Needless to say, with Howie and Peps involved it also swung like nobody's business!' Usually, I am wary of sentences that end with an exclamation mark, but in this case I have no hesitation in seconding Richard's enthusiasm. This is Record of the Year material and as such is very warmly recommended.
Bruce Crowther, Jazz Journal International, October 2008
The jazz duet is like a two-legged side table: a small mass with a small margin for error in the internal balances. The ballasts here are models of stability, as Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski hold this urbane demitasse of a session in an unfailing upright posture.
The emotional temperature rarely breaks a sweat in this mostly serene chamber program of carefully engineered and elegant little jazz fugues. I use the term fugue loosely, of course. The music is smart and precise without being dense, a mix of contrapuntal dialog("Panama," the most heated of the cuts), back-and-forth conversation, solo musings and snug unison interludes("Bossango"). Peplowski switches between tenor saxophone and clarinet, each cool, mellow, contained and proportional to the context. Alden moves on a dime within tunes between the roles of bassist, pianist, soloist and ensemble voice. The low thread count keeps the music loose, open and airy.
It's refreshing for a change to see an instrumental CD in which the players do not focus solely on their own one-off prototype compositions. By and large, Alden and Peplowski leave that chore--composition--to the pros. One of the most valuable(but perhaps least valued) elements of their virtuosity is the sheer weight of repertoire they bring to the table. Not that their probes into ASCAP archives don't yield a few obscurities as well: Who But Alden would choose "Land Of The Loon" as a solo piece?(OK, Bucky Pizzarelli maybe.)
The open-minded zeal for repertoire(from Cole Porter to Bud Powell) is matched by a comfortable lack of preoccupation over stylistic particulars or posturing. Peplowski and Alden are among the charter members of their generation's "white retro" niche, a rather nasty label that perhaps comes from playing too many Bix Beiderbecke festivals. However, they appear to owe no fealty to any particular period or style, whether Bix or Bird, and sound dust-free and contemporary in their own musical skins.
In fact, they seem to voice a natural summation of what the totality of jazz adds up to as of now. This puts them, and this collection of duets, in a world of relatively lasting if not unique verities, which is not the worst place to find a good musical home.
John McDonough, Downbeat Magazine June 2008
Whether you were fortunate enough or not to have caught Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski's recent Bargemusic reunion, Pow-Wow will do very nicely to dig these longtime musical good companions. Much of the Barge evening drew upon this latest recording of theirs, offering a perfect, quietly spectacular skyline setting for these two, both who eschew pyrotechnics. Their playing is exciting enough in its simplicity. Hearing their variety, range and richness can make it seem like listening to more than just two players.
The title track (guitarist Joe Puma's tune based on the changes of Ray Noble's "Cherokee") starts the CD off in such jumping synchronicity that Alden's guitar and Peplowski's tenor sax seem to be a multi-voiced single instrument. Another high point, "Did I Remember?", is a gem which Billie Holiday sang on her first recording date. For this nostalgic tune Peplowski switches over to clariuet and together he and Alden conclude it with a burst of especially exhilarating improvisation.
On Duke Ellington's rarely heard "Who Knows", which is somewhat boppish in flavor, Peplowski is again on clarinet as he trades playful licks with Alden. It's followed by "After All", a thoughtful Billy Strayhorn beauty, on which the warmth of Peplowski's clarinet is ever so gently supported by Alden. In playing a set that refreshingly mixes near classics and lesser known nuggets, they cast a spell as emotionally strong as it is thoroughly modern.
Andrew Velez-All About Jazz December 2007
Duets are the jazz equivalent of a trapeze act without a safety net, especially when they are between a horn player and guitarist. Sans bass, sans drums there is a danger that the texture will seem thin. Even the great Joe Pass was reduced to routine plinking and plonking when he made such a record with tenor player Zoot Sims.
But Howard Alden and the saxophonist Ken Peplowski surmount that problem with ease on this lovely recording. Peplowski has seldom sounded more airy and buoyant; even more impressive is the way that Alden constantly shifts from rhythmic strumming, through counter-lines, floating chords and unison passages. Together Alden and Peplowski seem to somersault through musical space, no safety net required.
Martin Gayford-London Daily Telegraph March 29, 2008
Less is definitely more. In contrast to all those colourless artists who grind tunes into submission, the guitarist and reed player know the value of restraint. Their series of duets is a gem, generation a true sense of intimacy and never lapsing into predictable, jazz-by-numbers exchanges. Both men may be rooted in swing, but their tastes range as far afield as Bud Powell's sprightly Tempus Fugit and the gentler contours of Bill Even's Very Early. Peplowski's clarinet timbre is unfailingly warm and dark; when he switches to tenor sax, as on Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's The Things We Did Last Summer, he conjures up memories of that arch romantic Ben Webster.
Clive Davis-The London Times February 2008
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PowWow 