The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts has announced that jazz icon, bassist, composer and Grammy-winning educator John Clayton will step in as interim artistic director for the 2026 Oregon Coast Jazz Party.

He replaces longtime director Ken Peplowski, 66, who died Feb. 1 on the final day a Jazz Cruise ’26 in the Gulf of Mexico. He was 66.

Clayton, a titan of the genre whose career spans decades of collaboration with the industry’s greatest, brings a steady hand, and a deep musical soul, the arts council said in announcing Clayton as interim director.

This year’s event Oct. 2-4 at the Newport Performing Arts Center will serve as a tribute to Peplowski.

“Peplowski was more than a curator; he was the heartbeat of the OCJP, known for his wit, his virtuosic swing, and his incredible ability to bring together the world’s finest musicians,” the council said in its news release.

The 2026 event will also add The Jazz Cruise as this year’s presenting sponsor and brings back Rev. Carol Stubbs Smith, whose support and generosity as lead underwriter continue to make the event possible for the Oregon coast community.

“This year’s party will continue the well-established presentation of jazz artists from across the nation,” Clayton said in a statement. “We will also pay tribute to the memory of Ken Peplowski. He is the man whose vision of jazz brought decades of exciting, world-class programs to us.”

Tickets are expected to go on sale April 21. For more information to to coastarts.org/jazz