A sweet note

Oct. 19—SHARON — Ken Peplowski's work is hard to identify.

And that's a hallmark for jazz musicians.

"Every performance is different," Peplowski said. "And you don't know what's going to happen, and that makes it exciting to listen to."

A Cleveland native and New York City resident, Peplowski will play Sunday evening with a quartet he assembled at the Apollo Maennerchor Club in Sharon. The event is open to the public with tickets running $40. The doors open at 5:15 p.m. with the concert starting at 6.

A clarinet and tenor saxophone player, Peplowski has recorded over 70 CD's as a soloist and has headlined in almost every major venue imaginable such as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl along with clubs and concert halls worldwide. He's performed with jazz legends like Mel Torme and Benny Goodman, along with pop stars such as Madonna.

He's enraptured audiences playing tunes by Benny Goodman, a fellow clarinetist who died in 1986 and was known as the "King of Swing."

"The most requests I get for playing a song isn't a particular song," he said. "People ask if I can play something by Benny Goodman. He made such as strong mark on the songs he played."

But Peplowski enjoys the full breadth of jazz, including big band, ragtime and dixieland.

"You'll find a lot of musicians resist being put in a box," he said of playing any specific style. "Personally, I like to play the whole history of jazz."

In the 30s and 40s, there was talk of a geographical division of jazz between West Coast and East Coas, a distinction that may still survive.

"There are people saying West Coast jazz is laid back — more cool," Peplowski said. "And that East Coast is more aggressive jazz."

He dismisses the notion as myth.

"Half of the supposed West Coast jazz musicians originally came from the East Coast and moved to California," he said.

Peplowski didn't start out playing jazz. As a young kid he played in a polka band, a decision he has never regretted.

"I'm very proud of that," he said. "It's challenging music."

What's more he was asked to play on the soundtrack for the 2018 movie "The Polka King." It was a comedy loosely based on the real-life Polish-American polka band leader Jan Lewin.

Even the world of jazz has its business side.

Like most jazz musicians Peplowski plays solo but also with small bands, typically three or four other players that he assembles. He will perform Sunday with a pianist, drummer and bass player.

These bands are purposely short-lived, lasting maybe a few months off-and-on, or even less. To keep a jazz band going for a full year on the road has become financially impossible, he said.

"To keep a band together, it's expensive to be on the road, and you have to put everyone on the payroll even when you're not playing," Peplowski said. "Only somebody like Paul McCartney can afford to do that now."

During Peplowski's musical career, he's learned to be flexible and open to the world, he said.

And something else.

Being on the road for months at a time can be exhausting and emotionally draining. When arriving at a venue, Peplowski has learned to park ill feeling elsewhere before stepping on stage.

"You feed off the audience," he said. "They take you back to a better place."