Chuck, Ken and Clairdee at The Mainstay, February 19

A wonderful evening of jazz standards is on tap in Rock Hall as Mainstay favorites Chuck Redd on vibes and drums and the splendid clarinet/sax player Ken Peplowski introduce the San Francisco area vocalist, Clairdee at The Mainstay in Rock Hall, MD on Friday February 19 at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $20. The band will also include Robert Redd on piano and Max Murray on bass. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.

The group, featuring the assured jazz voice of Clairdee, the world-class reeds of Ken Peplowski and the sparking vibes and percussion of Chuck Redd will pay tribute to the Great American Songbook, with a program that will include compositions by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Sammy Cahn, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and more.

Clairdee is well known on the West Coast and tours regularly but she hasn’t made many East Coast stops outside of New York. Her soulfully alluring style and rich timbre reveal roots in the gospel church. She has an intimate, vulnerable and gentle way with a ballad, yet she can swing or shout at will. With her lustrous voice, heartfelt delivery, and scene-stealing charisma, she has honed a fine repertoire of standards. With her sharp sensibilities and old-school attitude about the importance of communicating with audiences, she performs with a gift for putting her own stamp on a song while capturing its essence.

Clairdee tours internationally performing before sold-out houses and garnering rave-reviews. She has performed with symphony pops orchestras and big bands, and shared the stage with artists as diverse as Bucky Pizzarelli, Boz Scaggs, David Sanborn, Cyrus Chestnut, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, the Count Basie Orchestra, Houston Person and the late, great Etta James.

At home and on the road, she is also a devoted educator, sharing the joys of music with children, adults, aspiring artists, and audiences alike. Since 1997, she has been a teaching artist with the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program. A former vocal jazz instructor at UC Berkeley’s Jazz Department and Diablo Valley College, she is currently a faculty member of the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA, and an Advisory Board member and active mentor in the Bay Area non-profit, Jazz In the Neighborhood mentoring program.

Russell Davies on BBC2 called Ken Peplowski “arguably the greatest living jazz clarinetist.” Peplowski is most often compared to Benny Goodman with comments such a this by reviewer Will Friedwald in the Wall Street Journal (December 2012), “Mr. Peplowski sounds the way Goodman might if he had kept evolving, kept on listening to new music, kept refining his sound, polishing his craft, and expanding his musical purview into the 21st century.”

Peplowski has recorded approximately 50 CDs as a soloist, and close to 400 as a sideman – some of the artists he’s performed or recorded with include Charlie Byrd, Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Woody Allen, Benny Goodman, and Madonna. He travels at least half of every year, playing clubs, concert halls, colleges, and pops concerts and has headlined at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, and Dizzy’s Club amongst many other venues. He is a favorite with Mainstay audiences.
He has recorded music as diverse as Italian and French folk songs, avant-garde jazz, pop, and classical music. He recorded the Darius Milhaud Clarinet Concerto with an orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was a featured soloist (playing Mozart) in 2015 at the Siletz Bay Music Festival in Oregon, where he will be premiering a new concerto in 2016, written for him by Dick Hyman. Peplowski was the musical director of the Oregon Festival Of American Music (OFAM) for eight years, and is a longtime performer and consultant to The Jazz Cruise, where he was elected to their Hall Of Fame in 2013.

In 2014, Peplowski was the recipient of the Sarasota Jazz Festival’s “Satchmo” award, given for his “unique and enduring contribution to the living history of jazz” and in March 2015, he was the guest of honor at a “Highlights In Jazz” concert in NYC saluted for “his matchless musical achievements”.

Chuck Redd is well known locally, in the DC area and internationally for his work on drums and vibraphone. He began recording and touring the globe when he joined the Charlie Byrd Trio at the age of 21. He was also a member of the Great Guitars with Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd and Herb Ellis. To his credit are 25 European tours and six tours of Japan, with the Barney Kessel Trio, Ken Peplowski, Terry Gibbs and Conte Candoli.

He was featured vibraphonist with the Mel Torme All-Star Jazz Quintet from 1991 until 1996. While appearing in New York with Torme, Ira Gitler of Jazz Times said: “Redd’s vibes were equally notable for vigor and melodiousness.”

Redd served as Artist-In-Residence at The Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, DC from 2004-2008 and in 2007, was featured with the prestigious “Milt Jackson Tribute Band”. In 2008, he was a featured soloist in the finale concert at The Lionel Hampton International Jazz festival with The Lionel Hampton Big Band and the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and in 2013, he performed co-lead the Dream Band with Jeff Hamilton in a salute to vibes legend Terry Gibbs.

Other recent engagements include jazz cruises, stints with Bucky Pizzarelli and Ken Peplowski at Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center) performances at Smalls in New York City and jazz festivals around the US. He has toured and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Bill Mays, Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Laurindo Almeida, Tal Farlow, Rebecca Kilgore, Scott Hamilton, Mickey Roker and Houston Person.

Redd is featured on over 75 recordings. His Arbors CD “Happy All The Time,” is a critically acclaimed tribute to his mentor, Barney Kessel and features Monty Alexander and Jeff Hamilton. his Noteworthy CD, “When Redd is Blue” is a collaboration with his brother, pianist Robert Redd, featuring saxophonist Harry Allen and his newest release, “The Common Thread” features Mickey Roker, Bob Cranshaw, Houston Person and Rossano Sportiello. He can also be heard on the sound track to the popular television series, “The Great Chefs”, and the NPR broadcast “Jazz Smithsonian.”

In addition to leading his own groups, Redd was a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra for 15 years. He frequently performs in New York City and is touring nationally at festivals and clubs. He is on the faculty at The University of Maryland School of Music and presents master classes, workshops and lectures around the country. Over the last few years he has served as unofficial jazz advisor to The Mainstay in between gigs around the country and around the world.

The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street.