KENNY DAVERN AND KEN PEPLOWSKI: DIALOGUES
Notes by Dan Morgenstern
Unlike their first joint venture for Arbors (The Jazz KENnection ARCD
19246), this Davern-Peplowski summit meeting is bereft of puns, and it differs in other ways: Ken’s double here is tenor rather than alto, and he plays
a lot more clarinet. Also, there is no piano involved; instead, we have two
of the finest guitarists of today, making this a session of double dialogues,
and Howard Alden (present on that first get-together) and James Chirillo
also double on banjos. The rhythm anchors are Nicky Parrott, as fine an
Australian import as the best wines from down under, and, making a return
engagement, the rock-solid Tony DeNicola.
Tony brings on the opener, If Dreams Come True, at a tempo perfect for
this l934 Edgar Sampson opus, introduced on a Chick Webb record that I
acquired in l947 – a beautiful Royal Blue Columbia 78 on which I almost
wore out Sandy Williams’ muted trombone solo. It’s been recorded many
times thereafter, notably by Billie Holiday and Lester Young, and this version
is another topnotcher. Unison clarinet and tenor state theme, then converse
for two choruses, followed by two by Alden (a master of harmony; he does
some chording), two by Ken’s smooth and warm tenor, and two crisp singlestringers from Chirillo. Kenny now starts his turn in the lower register,
backed by just bass and drums, then moves up, sets a riff, leaving break space
for Tony, pushes the riff up a few notches, spots Tony once more, and then
rides out on top, with that unmistakable tone.
The Diner, based on you-know-what, is what we might call a themeless
variation on the good old girl (cast here as a waitress?). The tempo is a nice
relaxed medium and the tenor starts it off, followed by Kenny’s clarinet,
backed by guitars. Tenor does some great doubletiming on his bridge and
Howard comes up with a little gem, Tony’s cymbal in there (catch when
Howard echoes himself). Kenny shows us that he can do some doubletime stuff, James picks up on the last clarinet phrase and captures a Charlie
Christian mood, Kenny sets a riff (he’s good at that) behind tenor, then trills
before the horns go out together, guitar ending.
Jimmy McHugh is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath with Arlen,
Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, Porter and Rogers, but his contributions to GAS (the
Great American Songbook) are hardly inconsiderable (Urbie Green and Daryl
Sherman have devoted albums to him, some 40 years apart). The long-titled
I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me is among his best, and like
many of these, was nailed by Louis Armstrong. Our dialoguers pick Louis’
tempo. Howard does the introduction and backs Kenny beautifully for the
out-of-tempo opening passage, and Ken moves it into pulse, bass in. Horns
get together, conversationally (don’t miss Ken’s flutter-tonguing bit), and then
Nicky takes a solo that conjoins time, melody and humor; she goes on to
back Ken strongly for his warm solo spot, ending with a break--then back to
Kenny and Howard for an out-of-tempo ending, with such a pretty last clarinet note! Red Allen would have said NICE!
The melody of Comes Love is by Sam Stept, who was born in Odessa in
1897, and there is a Russo-Jewish feel to this, one of his best (he also did
Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone and the beautiful All My Life
Life). Our
protagonists treat it to a shuffle beat, two clarinets in harmony stating the
theme, Kenny leading on the bridge. Ken (first clary outing here) starts the
solo sequence, offering a great darting bridge on chorus one, then opening
and ending his second with a Jewish accent, and fashioning a very different
bridge. James maintains the groove with some typically thoughtful improvising, then Howard starts his turn with a quote from Mary Lou Williams’
Lonely Moments, taking just one to James’ two but putting both single-string
and chording into play. Kenny, as is his wont, starts low, then moves up, riffs
behind him; he preaches, with touches of his Pee Wee roots, and then two
clarinets and two guitars take the theme out, bass bridge for effective contrast,
and a soft ensemble landing, clarinets a-flutter. I think old man Stept would
have dug this, not least for Tony’s absolutely unflappable tempo, and great
sound.
Should I? is a pretty hip tune for 1929, introduced in the musical film Lord
Byron of Broadway by Cliff (Ukulele Ike) Edwards, melody by Nacio Herb
Brown. This is the fastest yet, set up by a guitar riff. Two clarinets, switching lead (Kenny first chorus). Ken leads off solos, flying over the swinging
rhythm section for two; Howard follows with a very fluent two, again melding chords and single-string stuff. Kenny’s two are very relaxed, and note how
he clinches the second bridge and last eight. James is inspired throughout his
two choruses, phrasing at times like a trumpet. Clarinets trade fours for two,
Kenny sly, a swift bass solo, unison clary riff, Tony bridge, riff out. A romp.
We stay with the two clarinet format for Sometimes I’m Happy, one of
short-lived Vincent Youmans’ best. Again, a well-chosen tempo, suited for a
largely conversational foray. Two clarinets do theme, then eight bars each by
Kenny and Ken, fours by Kenny and Nicky, two clarinets together, eight bars
from Tony, clarinets in lower registers, a bit of Ken, and two clarinets out.
Switch into high gear for that old New Orleans parade piece, High Society.
New Orleans? No sir. This was composed by a Yale undergrad, Porter Steele,
for a collegiate string ensemble in 1901 (no bowed strings, just plucked
ones) and then scored for brass band by a publisher’s arranger, Robert Ricker,
who created the piccolo solo that, transposed to clarinet, became THE test
piece for New Orleans clarinet players. How fitting, then, that this unique
interpretation should focus on banjos as much (or maybe more) than clarinets. Howard often plays the banjo with David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz
Band, the only traditional jazz band with a regular gig in a New York club
at this writing, and James has also been seen with one from time to time, so
they’re no novices at this game, though this was the first time, I think, that
they engaged in friendly battle. Fast tempo, scene set by the two clarinets,
first with Kenny leading, then in harmony. Now the banjos, first James, then
Howard (who gets in some bebop), then fours, and you can hear how well
this piece lies for the instrument! Now the clarinets, but good as it gets, the
banjos take the bows on this outing! (I’d recommend this as a jazz party
piece.)
Back to the late ‘20s for Crazy Rhythm, one of those good old good ones, as
Louis used to say. Horns and guitars in unison theme, bridge by James, then
two very fine Kenny choruses, relaxed and with touches of humor. Howard
likes these changes, checking into a small hotel for a while and putting that
low seventh string into play, nicely backed by James in the rhythm role.
Ken picks up on the harmonic climate created by the guitars, getting into a
Lestorian mood, with an appealingly cloudy tone. James holds his own in the
solo sweepstakes, showing his harmonic chops, and then Nicky, alone, takes it
over and out, very effectively.
Nobody Else But Me was the last tune Jerome Kern wrote, in 1946, as an
addition to the Show Boat score, and it’s a masterpiece that invites (and challenges) creative improvisation. Need I say that our two guitarists, whose
showcase this is, respond in high style? The out-of-tempo opening chorus, in
which Howard and James take turns as soloists and accompanists in true duet
fashion, is a wonderful sonic bath, and then they go into easy swing, each
crafting a statement (by now you should be able to tell who’s who, by sound
alone, if nothing else), conjoining again in some contrapuntal interplay, and
landing gently together. More, please, gentlemen!
We end with a happy touchup of a venerable warhorse (are there any others?):
Muskrat Ramble as a samba, to wit (and wit is indeed at work) Muskrat
Samba. It works just fine, the two clarinets making great sounds in interplay,
rhythm section in the pocket. Some riffing ensues, Ken starts off the soloing
for two fleet ones, then Howard scores again, Kenny does his very own thing
for two, James gets into it, and the two clarinets twitter on out, ending on a
dime.
(P.S. on Muskrat: More than 40 years ago, Louis Armstrong told me that this
was his tune, but that Kid Ory named it, “so I let him have it.” I printed
this not insignificant piece of information in a long 65th birthday interview
with Pops in Down Beat
Beat, but nobody paid attention. I’ve repeated it several
times in print since then, pretty much at ten-year intervals, and now I do it
again. Louis was always generous in such matters; he told Joe Glaser not to
sue Lil, his ex, about Struttin’ With Some Barbecue, telling Joe that “she needs
the money more than I do.” But that’s of course another classic by the one
and only.)
Making old songs sound fresh and new is an art at which these six musicians
excel. You’ll be happy that you were able to listen in.
Alas, this was Tony’s studio swan song. As fine a man as he was a musician,
Tony left us on September 2, 2006, the very day of his 79th birthday. His
long and distinguished career included stints with Charlie Ventura, Harry
James (four years with the trumpeter’s big band), Charlie Shavers and Billy
Butterfield and many years of teaching, notably in his native city at Trenton
State College (where he earned a master’s degree in l974) as well as privately.
His long and close association with Kenny Davern is well documented on
Arbors.
• • •
As his many friends and myriad fans world-wide will know by this reading,
Kenny Davern was suddenly and totally unexpectedly felled by a heart attack
at his home in New Mexico on December l2, 2006, just a month shy of what
would have been his 72nd birthday. The day before, he dictated the following
words: “This album is dedicated to Tony De Nicola, 1927-2006. I lost a very
close friend and a great drummer in Tony. We all loved you. Kenny.”
Mat Domber, Kenny’s producer and friend for more than a dozen years, asked
me to add that “in Kenny’s passing, we lost another great friend, one who
was unique, and one of the greatest clarinetists in the history of jazz. He was
truly one of a kind, not only as a player but also as a person, and will never be
replaced.”
To which this writer, whose first encounter with Kenny came when that
remarkable man was barely out of his teens but already his inimitable self, can
only add: We all loved you, Kenny!
– Dan Morgenstern, December, 2006
(Dan Morgenstern, Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers
University since l976 and author of Living With Jazz, published by Pantheon
Books, received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award for
2007.)
OTHER ARBORS RECORDINGS WITH KENNY DAVERN
The Kenny Davern Quartet In Concert at the Outpost Performance Space,
Albuquerque, 2004 ARCD 19315
The Kenny Davern Quartet at the Mill Hill Playhouse ARCD 19296
The Kings of Jazz featuring Kenny Davern: Live in Concert 1974 ARCD 19267
Kenny Davern-Ken Peplowski: Jazz KENnection ARCD 19246
Kenny Davern: A Night with Condon ARCD 19238
Kenny Davern: Smiles ARCD 19207
Bob Wilber and Kenny Davern: Reunion at Arbors ARCD 19183
Kenny Davern: Breezin Along ARCD 19170
Kenny Davern and the Rhythm Men ARCD 19147
Kenny Davern and his Jazz Band: East Side,West Side ARCD 19137
NEW FROM ARBORS RECORDS
5 For Freddie: Bucky Pizzarelli’s Tribute to Freddie Green ARCD19344
Bucky and John Pizzarelli: Generations ARCD19345
Allan Vaché With Benny in Mind ARCD 19338
The Ray Kennedy Trio Plays the Music of Arthur Schwartz ARCD 19330
Norm Kubrin: I Thought About You ARCD 19342
Daryl Sherman: Guess Who’s In Town ARCD 19341
Maria Anadon: A Jazzy Way ARCD 19351
John Bunch at the Nola Penthouse Salutes Jimmy Van Heusen ARCD 19326
Dave Glasser Above the Clouds ARCD 19337
The World’s Greatest Jazz Band at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. 1971 ARCD 19343
Jackie Coon: The Joys of New Orleans ARCD 19119
Ralph Sutton at St. George Church, Brandon Hill, Bristol, England ARCD 19336
Jay Geils, Gerry Beaudoin and the Kings of Strings: Featuring Aaron Weinstein ARCD 19332
Rossano Sportiello at the Old Church, Boswil, Switzerland ARCD 19321
Marty Grosz and His Hot Combination ARCD 19319 (with Kellso on trumpet)
Bernd Lhotzky: Piano Portrait ARCD 19322
The Harry Allen-Joe Cohn Quartet: Hey, Look Me Over ARCD 19333
THE CREDITS
Produced by:
Executive Producers:
Recorded
Recorded by:
Mixed and Mastered by:
Davern Cover Photo:
Other Cover Photos:
Cover Design:
Kenny Davern
Rachel and Mat Domber for Arbors Records, Inc.
June 10, 2005 at Clinton Studios, New York City
Manny Rettinger assisted by Troy Halderson
Manny Rettinger
Fred Corbalis
Mat Domber
Luke Melton
It was Kenny’s wish that this CD be dedicated to his friend and teacher, the eminent
clarinetist David Weber, a pioneer of American woodwind playing, who passed away
on Ja
January 26, 2006 at the age of 92.
We further dedicate this recording, their last studio recording for Arbors Records, to the
memory of both Tony DeNicola and Kenny Davern, musicians extraordinary, whose legacy will
remain with us forever.
NEW FROM ARBORS RECORDS
Chuck Redd Remembers Barney Kessel: Happy All The Time ARCD 19314
Warren Vaché and The Scottish Ensemble: Don’t Look Back ARCD 19318
Dave Frishberg at the Jazz Bakery: Retromania ARCD 19334
The Earl May Quartet: Swinging the Blues ARCD 19320
Ruby Braff and Friends: Controlled Nonchalance, Vol 2 ARCD 19311
Aaron Weinstein: A Handful of Stars ARCD 19316
Sara Caswell: But Beautiful ARCD 19304
WRITE ARBORS RECORDS FOR A COMPLETE CATALOG
Arbors Records, Inc., 2189 Cleveland Street, Suite 225, Clearwater, FL 33765
Phone: (727) 466-0571 Fax: (727) 466-0432 Toll free: (800) 299-1930
E-mail: mrd@gate.net Internet address: http://www.arborsrecords.com
Kenny Davern and Ken Peplowski: Dialogues
ARCD
19317
This Davern-Peplowski summit meeting features two of jazz’s finest reedmen in a
series musical dialogues, joined in their conversation by the strings of Howard Alden
and James Chirillo. Making old songs sound fresh and new is an art at which they
excel, featuring easy swing with contrapuntal interplay.
1. If Dreams Come True (Irving Mills,
Edgar Sampson, Benny Goodman)
(7:18)
2. The Diner (Kenny Davern and Ken
Peplowski) (5:47)
3. I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love
with Me (Clarence Gaskill, Jimmy
McHugh) (5:40)
4. Comes Love (Sam H. Stept, Charles
Tobias, Lew Brown) (9:16)
5. Should I? (Arthur Freed, Nacio
Herb Brown) (7:15)
6. Sometimes I’m Happy (Irving
Caesar, Vincent Youmans) (4:10)
7. High Society (Porter Steele) (4:50)
8. Crazy Rhythm (Irving Caesar,
Joseph Meyer, Roger Wolfe Kahn)
(7:02)
9. Nobody Else But Me (Oscar
Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) (4:39)
10. Muskrat Samba ( Based on Muskrat
Ramble) (Kid Ory) (5:40)
Kenny Davern: Clarinet • Ken Peplowski: Clarinet, Tenor Sax
Howard Alden: Guitar, Banjo • James Chirillo: Guitar, Banjo
Nicki Parrott: Bass • Tony DeNicola: Drums
Produced by ARBORS RECORDS, INC.
© 2007 Arbors Records, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable law.