Litchfield Jazz Presents is closing the Spring season of Jazz at the Poli Club in Waterbury, CT, with pianist Joe Alterman, drummer Anton Kot, bassist Conway Campbell and special guest, world famous clarinetist and saxophonist Ken Peplowski. The date is June 2nd, with shows at 7 and 9PM.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Joe Alterman received degrees in Jazz Piano Performance at New York University. Now 31, he has performed  with Houston Person, Les McCann and his own trio at world renowned venues like the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland and New York’s Blue Note where he opened for Ramsey Lewis on many occasions. He has also opened for Dick Gregory, Norah Jones, John Pizzarelli, and Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind And Fire), among others.

Joe has four critically-acclaimed albums to his credit, his most recent, The Upside of Down (2021). A budding journalist as well as fine pianist, he is now writing liner notes for Wynton Marsalis. Nat Hentoff, the late, iconic journalist, called one of Alterman’s columns “one of the very best pieces on the essence of jazz, the spirt of jazz, that I’ve ever read, and I’m not exaggerating.” Hentoff profiled him in his very last piece on music in 2016.  In addition to his piano work, Alterman is Executive Director of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival which celebrates Jewish contributions to Music.

Anton Kot and Conway Campbell are both former Litchfield Jazz Campers.

Anton is an award-winning drummer and pianist. Now 21, he began his studies at LJC on drums at age 10. He is currently a scholarship student at NYU who led his own band at the Detroit Jazz Festival three seasons ago and the Pittsfield Jazz Fest this April. A commissioned composer, he plays with his own quartet and features many of his own works. In 2022, Anton made his Litchfield Jazz Festival debut leading a star-studded Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty band, with Don Braden on sax, Avery Sharpe on bass, Julian Shore on piano, and Jean Caze on trumpet.

Bassist Conway Campbell graduated from the University of Hartford’s Jackie McLean Insitute, studying under Ron Carter, Gerald Cannon and Nat Reeves. He is a member of the R&B group Mixed Company and the jazz fusion group Soul Space. He has taught at Litchfield Jazz Camp and BackCountry Summer and After-School Jazz Workshops. He is working toward his Master’s at Manhattan School of Music, studying under Buster Williams. His collaborators include Jeremy Pelt, Godwin Louis, Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Bennie Wallace, and Stacy Dillard, among many others. Conway has performed at CT’s Side Door Jazz Club, The Django and The Jazz Gallery in NYC and Newport Jazz Festival.

“When you grow up in Cleveland playing in a polka band, you learn to think on your feet” … , Special guest, Ken Peplowski.

Ken 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 fourth time appearing for Litchfield Jazz. He played the fest last summer with special guest Houston Person.

Joe Alterman played the Litchfield Jazz festival with Avery Sharpe on bass and Matt Wilson on drums to a sold-out audience in 2017. His appearance at the Poli is produced by Litchfield Jazz in collaboration with New England Arts and Entertainment. Tickets available at the Palace Theater Box Office (203-346-2000) or www.PalaceTheaterCT.org.

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