The Art of the Story

Award-winning clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader Ken Peplowski dies at 66

By Doug Doyle,

Published February 3, 2026 at 9:12 PM EST

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On this episode of The Art of the Story, we pay tribute to Ken Peplowski who died this week while on The Jazz Cruise. Peplowski was 66.

Peplowski died on the last day of The Jazz Cruise after playing the entire week with two of his best friends Anat Cohen and Paquito D'Rivera.

Anat Cohen, Paquito D'Rivera and Ken Peplowski

WBGO's former Director of Editorial Content and celebrated jazz journalist Lee Mergner confirmed the death to WBGO News.

Ken Peplowski chats with his friend Lee Mergner on The Jazz Cruise in 2026

Mergner spoke with Ken Peplowski in 2024. You can hear that conversation here.

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Doug Doyle

Doug Doyle has been News Director at WBGO since 1998. Since then, Doug and his news staff have received more than 300 awards from organizations like PRNDI (now PMJA), AP, New York Association of Black Journalists, Garden State Association of Black Journalists and the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists.

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Lee Mergner

For over 27 years, Lee Mergner served as an editor and publisher of JazzTimes until his resignation in January 2018. Thereafter, Mergner continued to regularly contribute features, profiles and interviews to the publication as a contributing editor for the next 4+ years. JazzTimes, which has won numerous ASCAP-Deems Taylor awards for music journalism, was founded in 1970 and was described by the All Music Guide, as “arguably the finest jazz magazine in the world.”

See stories by Lee Mergner