w/Ehud Asherie, piano, Dezron Douglas, bass, Jason Brown, drums, Special Guest, Ken Peplowski
Noon, Saturday, July 29
Self-taught Pianist, Ehud Asherie learned the ropes at New York Smalls, Jazz Club, where he spent much of his early teens becoming a fixture of the late-night jam sessions. Mentored by the late Frank Hewitt, Asherie began to develop “his virtuosity and his ear for clean, crisp lines” (The Star-Ledger). Later, an admiration for earlier piano styles took hold. Soon enough Asherie had absorbed them into his playing becoming, in the words of The New Yorker, ” master of swing and stride.” His present style combines this broad tradition, merging idioms into a distinctly personalized approach.
Along with numerous albums recorded as a sideman, acclaimed album releases under Ehud Asherie’s leadership have included Shuffle Along which reinterpreted the music of Eubie Blake, Organic, which finds Asherie on organ, Upper West Side and Lower East Side, duet projects featuring saxophonist Harry Allen, and his trio recording Music Makes Me. Asherie’s most recent trio recording is Wild Man Blues on the Capri Label.
Ehud has worked with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Wycliffe Gordon, Catherine Russell, John Pizzarelli, Ken Peplowski and Charles McPherson, among others, and has performed at clubs and festivals in South America, Europe, Asia, and throughout the U.S. His playing can be heard on numerous recordings, including the 2010 Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.
Ken Peplowski played his first pro gig when he was in elementary school and knew at once he wanted to play music for a living. While still in college, he joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Buddy Morrow stepping for the retired Goodman. In ‘84, Goodman came out of retirement, put together a new band, and hired Ken on tenor. His career, he says, has never, ever been dull. He’s played the Hollywood Bowl, Newport, Litchfield, most European festivals and clubs everywhere. He’s played for Woody Allen’s movies, recorded with Marianne Faithfull and music directed interactive French and Italian cookbooks. His collaborators include Mel Torme, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Madonna, Hank Jones, Dave Frishberg, Rosemary Clooney and scores more. Now, with 50+ CDs as a soloist 400+ as a sideman, Russell Davies of BBC2 has rightly called him “arguably the greatest living jazz clarinetist.”
This is Ken’s fifth time appearing for Litchfield Jazz. He played the fest last summer with special guest Houston Person.
Beyond his dedication to jazz, Asherie has also developed a passion for traditional Brazilian music. He has performed and recorded with acclaimed Brazilian artists like Wilson das Neves, Duduka da Fonseca and Maucha Adnet. His appreciation and deep knowledge of the music can be heard in his new project “Discovering Ernesto Nazareth”.
This is his third appearance at Litchfield Jazz Festival and his first as a leader. Ehud played in 2017 in Ken Peplowski’s Benny Goodman tribute alongside Nicki Parott, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Locke and Matt Wilson and again in 2022, also with Ken Peplowski. He is joined here by Dezron Douglas on bass and Jason Brown on drums. Dezron is one of so many former Litchfield Jazz Campers who return again and again to their Connecticut “home” at the Litchfield Jazz Festival. He appeared in 2008 and 2014 as a member of Cyrus Chestnut’s Trio. A graduate of Oberlin, Jason Brown has toured with Carmen Lundy and Pat Martino and worked with Lizz Wright, Cedar Walton, Nicolas Payton, Kurt Rosenwinkel and others. Jason is a member of Amina Figarova’s Sextet. This is his first Litchfield appearance.
