The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra returns with the CJO Little Big Band presenting a tribute to the late Ken Peplowski, who passed away suddenly on February 2, 2026. Peplowski, a Cleveland area native, returned to perform regularly in NE Ohio, but was loved and respected around the world as a preeminent saxophonist and clarinetist. Tonight's performance will feature special guest Mark Vinci on saxophone.

Tickets for this performance are $30 each (plus $2 fee).

This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP's YouTube page at showtime. Accessing the stream is free but donations are encouraged and directly support the band. To donate, select "Donation: Livestream Attendee" (which is a $10 blanket ticket price) as your Ticket Option above.

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Jazz saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist and composer Mark Vinci has performed at numerous festivals such as North Sea, Kool, Montreaux, Monterey and Nice. Copenhagen Politiken concert review states, “You have to go back to Thad Jones to have an adventure with the same infectious enthusiasm. .... Vinci’s playing was supported by exuberance and musical intelligence which brought our thinking back to Julian Cannonball Adderley.” The Berlingske Tidende comments, "The brilliant American saxophone player Mark Vinci has a rare ability to be instrumental in bringing about his art with an unbelievable charm and catching gusto." As a soloist and quartet leader he has performed around the world and recorded CD’s “As I Think About You”, “Grand Slam” and “Interplay.” Vinci had extensive runs with big bands including Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan, John Fedchock, Maria Schneider, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band (Jon Faddis. leader) and has performed, toured, and/or recorded with artists including Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Joe Lovano and Stefon Harris. A five-time Grammy nominee, Vinci recorded for Blue Note, Concord, Telarc, Sony and Albany Records, among others.

Vinci’s commissioned compositions have been performed by the Empire State Youth Orchestra’s “New Music for a New Generation” festival, at the United Nations, for numerous jazz festivals, and in solo and orchestral classical concerts. “Tingsha Bom-t-Bom-t-Bom” flute concerto (premiered in the US and South America), “Crow’s Nest” for solo flute, and several chamber works that include flute, were commissioned by and written for his wife, Jan Vinci. “TINGsha” and Mark’s other compositions can be heard on Albany Records and Iris Records. For many years Vinci was a faculty member of The Juilliard School Jazz and Skidmore College.

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The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has been Northeast Ohio’s premier jazz voice since 1985. Led by award-winning composer and trombonist Paul Ferguson, the CJO promotes jazz in its historical and contemporary forms, through concerts featuring a stellar line-up of jazz luminaries, arrangers, composers, and educators. At a CJO concert, you will enjoy "the best jazz you've ever heard and the best jazz you've never heard." Through inventive, original music and effective, innovative Educational Outreach, the CJO shepherds young and up-and-coming musicians and provides our region with unique and important cultural experiences.

www.clevelandjazz.org