BarnesandNoble.com Home Page

Clarinets, Guitars, & Gossip

by Bob Powers

Version 4.0, Event #128: The Mammoth Edition G21 ASIA: Part Two of ROD AMIS' reporting on the elections in Kampuchea(Cambodia): Interview with Lar Mundstock of the National Development Party. ON DRUGS: ADAM SMITH, Barry McCaffrey's favorite writer, reports on how the "Fear & Punishment in Plano, Texas." VOX POPULI YOUR page of e-mailed comments is updated. Looks like PHIL MARTIN week! BOB POWERS delivers a one-two punch this Issue: POWERSBOOKS: Has tomes on Ritalin, the Civil War, Tobacco, Meditation and Poetry. POWERSSOUND: HUGE Coverage, folks: Jazzman Ken Peplowski, Guitarist Stefan Grossman, the Alanis Morissette tour, Lauren Hill of The Fugees, David Bowie, problems for Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, and the latest on "Hello Nasty" from the Beastie Boys. [Hold On! I thought HART did the dish! --- Ed.] G21 DAY ONE: TODAY: RADIO RAHEEM on the Shoot-out at the Capitol. TABLOID HART: THOMAS HART's Weekly Celebrity Dish talks about Bruce and Demi's break-up, and then "Southern Baptists to Women: Sit Down & Shut Up!" In DON'T READ ME FIRST! Our Publisher on This Week's Edition. FAX NIKITA: The second installment of our compendium of the bizarre AND the interesting. LAST WEEK's EDITION BarnesandNoble SEARCH: Every writer here still reads offline. We support Barnes and Noble and hope you will, too. This is the place to find the best and brightest! For rapid response, use The Message Board HOME

Ken Peplowski is not a household name. At least not in my house. But the jazz clarinetist has been making albums for Concord Jazz since 1987, and it's obvious that he's held in high regard amongst those who are in the know.

"Grenadilla" (Concord Jazz CCD-4809) is Peplowski's fifteenth album and it's a good one. Jazz clarinet is not this writer's personal favorite, with only a few jazz performers having turned me on in the past, most particularly Benny Goodman and Buddy DeFranco. However, a couple of close listenings to Peplowski's latest shows indisputably that he ranks in the hierarchy of licorice stick noodlers.

With able support by Ben Aronov on piano, Greg Cohen at the bass and Chuck Redd manning the drum kit, Peplowski turns in a stellar performance, with 11 cuts that include originals by Aronov and Cohen, along with Victor Herbert's perennial "Indian Summer" and the old Julie London smash hit from the late 1940's, "Cry Me a River."

While some critics have attached the label of traditionalist to Peplowski, "Grenadilla" shows him taking a few steps in new directions, according to the helpful liner notes by Chip Deffaa , whose writings appear in The New York Post and Entertainment Weekly. According to Deffaa, "No clarinetist of Peplowski's generation plays the instrument better than he does. His finesse, his control, his command of the instrument are superb."

Born 39 years ago in Cleveland, Peplowski began playing professionally at the age of 10, working in polka bands. That proved good training for jazz. He attended Cleveland State University, but dropped out at age 19 to join Buddy Morrow, who was by then heading the Tommy Dorsey ghost band. Peplowski left Morrow in 1981 to begin freelancing in New York City. It wasn't long until the recording work started to keep him busy.

And the title, "Grenadilla," it's the wood from which a majority of clarinets are made. Peplowski says that in the rain forests of Northern Mozambique and in South America, "the tree is known as The Tree of Music."

GUITAR GREATNESS

The most impressive instrumental guitar album I've heard in many moons is just out. "Bottleneck Serenade" (Kicking Mule, KMCD-3911-2) shows off the incredible talents of Stefan Grossman, one of the great masters of the instrument. Recorded during the summer of 1975 at studios in Rome and London, using the then new 16-track equipment, it's a 39-minute gem of a dozen superb tracks.

With many layers of sound, the veteran Grossman makes music that should delight fans of many genres of music. This is simply good stuff, sounding great through excellent remastering work done by Joe Tarantino at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, Calif.

You'll think you're in heaven for certain when you listen to Grossman's enchanting version of the Roberta Flack smash, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," which Grossman, in notes written for the original album, calls "one of the most beautiful melodies of the last years." Mike Cooper adds his excellent support on bottleneck guitar for three tracks.

This one's a keeper.

ALANIS SETS CLUB TOUR

Morissette will wait until early 1999 to launch a full scale tour. That will make four years since she hit the big time with "Jagged Little Pill" in the spring of 1995. GOSSIP NOTES

• Lauryn Hill, lead singer for The Fugees, allegedly has the inside track to get a lead role in the upcoming film of the old Broadway musical, "Dreamgirls." Billboard reported the Joel Schumacher-helmed feature will begin shooting in L.A. and Harlem come March. Hill's reportedly the fave for the role of Denna Jones, reported modeled after the Supremes' Diana Ross in the hit show written by Ohio native Tom Eyen, who died a few years ago. Hill is no acting tyro, having done a stint on "As the World Turns" in the early 90s. She also has been in the films "Sister Act II" and "King of the Hill." Currently she can be spotted in the indie film, "Restaurant."
• David Bowie is hitting the Internet by creating his own online service provider, Billboard says. Set to launch in September, it will offer uncensored access to the Web, offer customizable home pages, e-mail addresses, news groups, chat rooms, and shareware. For details, go to www.davidbowie.com.
• Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland is out on bond after being arrested July 21 in Los Angeles, Billboard Daily reports. He was picked up on a felony warrant after he missed a court date on July 9. His troubles stem from an arrest in September of last year on a felony charge of heroin possession and a misdemeanor count of possession of a hypodermic needle. He could receive three years in prison if convicted. Weiland dropped out of STP temporarily, then returned to the stage after release of a solo album.
• The Beastie Boys reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts with the debut of their new album, "Hello Nasty." The record sold 682,000 copies in its first seven days, reported SoundScan, topping Master P, whose new album reached 495,000 units sold. Trailing were the Dave Matthews Band with 421,000, Garth Brooks with 372,000, and Pearl Jam at 358,000. The Beasties achievement has been equaled this year only by the "Titanic" album, which moved 847,000 copies in one week during February.

________________________