#BillCharlap 's new album feature

At JazzWax, Bill Charlap's new album features a wonderful array of sensitive songs... https://t.co/SOm5fW7beu pic.twitter.com/9HpuBoMzLg

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) October 5, 2017

Bill Charlap: Notes From N.Y.

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Bill Charlap is among the few jazz pianists today who refuse to treat the piano like a muscle car. Rather than peeling out on the keyboard, song after song, Bill is gentle and tender, providing the listener with plenty of space to admire the songs he's chosen and what he's doing with them. Playing gentle is hardly mousey. There's enormous complexity required by those artists who compel audiences to lean forward. Ahmad Jamal and his trio did this brilliantly in the 1950s. Same goes for trios led by George Shearing, Red Garland and Bill Evans. Allowing glorious songs to breathe requires the artist to stir up musical drama through storytelling, beauty and poise, not bombast and relentless attack. Restraint and a keen understanding of poetry are key.

On his new trio album—Notes From New York (Impulse)—Bill chose terrific songs, half of which you rarely hear these days. Accompanied sensitively by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, Bill turns sleeper songs into panting, sensual works. I especially love what Bill does with Make Me Rainbows (John T. Williams, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman), Not a Care in the World (Vernon Duke and John Latouche), There Is No Music (Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin), Little Rascal on a Rock (Thad Jones) and Too Late Now (Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner). In each case, Bill is on a date with these songs, listening carefully and attending to them with enormous sensitivity. The result is pure bliss.

Most listeners would be hard-pressed to hum the melodies of the tunes mentioned above. They are melodic jewels that rarely see the light of day. As a result, much of what you hear on Bill's new album sounds fresh and exciting. Bill explores these songs to his heart's content, creating lovely and lively interpretations without tripping into iconic versions in his unconscious ear. He's completely liberated here from classic versions hammered into our heads, and we hear him exhibiting exquisite keyboard taste.

Personally, I've heard enough versions of I Remember April, A Sleepin' Bee and On the Sunny Side of the Street to last a lifetime. While the trio's versions here certainly will bring a smile, more interesting to me is Bill's catalog curiosity and songbook scholarship that led him to choose the rarities. Too many new albums these days are plagued by the same dog-eared standards, as if great American composers wrote only four songs each. While I understand the need to include the familiar for commercial purposes, the sophisticated listener will be most excited by the new "guests" at the party. [Photo above of the Bill Charlap Trio, from left, drummer Kenny Washington, pianist Bill Charlap and bassist Peter Washington]

On Notes From New York, Bill, Peter and Kenny prove that there are rich lodes of lesser-known songbook material waiting to be mined for jazz treatment if you know where to look. And in the hands of the Bill Charlap Trio, these songs glitter and gleam. As for the album's liner notes by singer Carol Sloane, they are wonderfully informative, providing the history of each tune. Carol, of course, is no stranger to great songs that live way off the beaten path.

With Peter Washington and Kenny Washington by his side, Bill Charlap here hits new highs of sensitivity and intelligence. I, for one, can't wait to hear what he discovers next in the vaults of the great American songbook and jazz book and how the trio shows them off.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find the Bill Charlap Trio's Notes From New York (Impulse) here.

JazzWax clip: Here's the Bill Charlap Trio playing Thad Jones's Little Rascal on a Rock...

Little Rascal on a Rock

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Bill Charlap: West Coast Jazz

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

West Coast jazz has many definitions, depending on your perspective. To some, this 1950s jazz style conjures up images of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet playing contrapuntal lines at the Haig in Los Angeles. To others, West Coast jazz means Hampton Hawes, Curtis Counce and Harold Land swinging hard at Shelly’s Manne Hole.


On Thursday July 18 at 8 p.m., pianist Bill Charlap will attempt to crystallize and illustrate West Coast jazz’s many influences and styles when he performs in New York as part of 92Y’s Jazz in July Festival. He’ll be joined by Michael Philip Mossman (trumpet), Jon Gordon (alto sax), Jimmy Greene (tenor sax), Gary Smulyan (baritone sax), Michael Dease (trombone), Ted Rosenthal (piano), Sean Smith (bass) and Rodney Green (drums).

Two weeks ago I caught up with Bill and asked him about the upcoming concert…


JazzWax: From your perspective, how did West Coast jazz differ from East Coast jazz in the ‘50s?
Bill Charlap: Much of what is written about West Coast jazz tells only part of the story. For instance, most people think of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Bob Brookmeyer when they hear the term West Coast jazz—the sound that focused on counterpoint and the relaxed Lester Young feeling.


But there’s a corollary to that sound, a very swinging scene that took place out there at the same time but hasn't received the same amount of attention. I’m talking about musicians like Curtis Counce, Harold Land, Gerald Wiggins, Carl Perkins, Hampton Hawes, Victor Feldman and many others. There was plenty of hard swinging and edgy rhythm sections on the West Coast then. There’s a lot more to West Coast jazz than the Haig or the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach.


JW: To some extent you’re differentiating between the white and black experiences on the West Coast.
BC: Yes, but I’m actually thinking about all of it together, which I know is a different way of looking at West Coast jazz. In our concert, you’ll be hearing a wide cross-section—from Brookmeyer, Brubeck, Mulligan and Baker to Harold Land, Victor Feldman, Elmo Hope and Teddy Edwards. That’s my idea of West Coast jazz: the two camps presented as one. A lot of vital things that were happening musically in California in the ‘50s and ‘60s weren’t just emblematic of the cool school.


JW: Part of that sound is shaped by the artist’s personal experience—from lifestyle to racism. But it’s also regional—meaning a more laid back environment.
BC: Absolutely. But West Coast jazz has long been pegged as not having the same pressure and edge as New York jazz. While there’s certainly some sunshine in West Coast jazz, there’s no lack of intensity. There’s nothing lightweight about what was happening out there. I’m talking also about West Coast artists like Jimmy Rowles, Russ Freeman and Cannonball Adderley with Victor Feldman and Joe Zawinul.


The concert will be a celebration of key figures in all forms of West Coast jazz who haven’t necessarily received the attention they deserve. We’ll also be looking at artists like Mulligan and Brubeck. It will be a mixture of what was happening in the African-American scene on Central Avenue and in harder swinging rhythm sections as well as other developments.


JW: Is there a risk of trying to be everything and winding up with an audience that has little understanding?
BC: Of course, but we’ll limit those risks with a clear narrative. The concert isn’t going to be a lecture—but we will take the audience through the artists we’re highlighting and why they’re important. We’ll also fill in the audience about what they’re hearing. One song we may play is the ballad For Sue, recorded by Bob Gordon and Jack Montrose in 1954. It was written by Jack for Jon Gordon's mother Sue, who was involved with Bob Gordon. Bob was killed in a car crash in 1955, so Jon, who's playing with us, never knew him. 


Ted Rosenthal and I both played with Gerry Mulligan for years, so we won’t leave him out. But instead of touching on the music he made at the Haig, we want to play Gerry’s works that are more developed, like Curtains, which he recorded in 1989 on Lonesome Boulevard [Bill also recorded the song on his album The Gerry Mulligan Songbook]. We might play Gerald Wiggins’ A Fifth for Frank (1957), Carl Perkins’ Mia(1956), Hampton Hawes’ Hamp's Blues (1967) and Victor Feldman’s Falling in Love (recorded first by Stan Getz in 1986 on Voyage).


JW: Don't you think the audience will expect to hear the laid-back West Coast sound?
BC: They’re going to hear all of it. It will be an education. New York in the ‘50s was still the country’s creative center. There has long been a critical view that what was happening on the West Coast was weaker and less significant. The point I’m making is this: If you're listening for a rhythm section that sounds like one driven by East Coast drummer Art Blakey, your assumption is correct—you won't find that.

But the West Coast featured many intense artists who need to be exposed and appreciated. There also was an edgy, swinging studio scene with composer-arrangers like Benny Carter, Benny Golson and Clare Fischer. There was plenty of hot jazz and innovation on the West Coast and the audience will get to hear both types, for a fuller, truer picture.


JW: What are some of your favorite West Coast jazz recordings?
BC: I’d have to say Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker’s Line for Lyons, Bob Brookmeyer’s Rocky Scotch, anything by Hampton Hawes, Curtis Counce’s Landslide and recordings by Bob Gordon and Jack Montrose.

JazzWax note: For the full schedule of 92Y's Jazz in July events, go here.

- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/07/bill-charlap-west-coast-jazz.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.UH4wUM8N.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart, Najee, Erin Bode, Cornet Chop Suey, and more...

Holiday hustle-and-bustle may be going into full effect, but over the next few days there are a number of events in St. Louis that you may want to stop and check out if you're a fan of jazz and creative music.

Tonight, singer Erin Bode opens a two-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. If my understanding is correct, this will be a holiday themed show, which means Bode likely will be performing music from her CD A Cold December Night, which was released last year at this time. Word is that Bode and band also have been recording a new CD for release next year, so it's possible that some of those new songs may find their way into her sets as well.

Also this evening, just around the corner from the Bistro, pianist Bill Charlap and singer Sandy Stewart  will open a four-night stand of performances presented by Cabaret St. Louis at the Kranzberg Art Center. Charlap was here with the Blue Note 7 in February at the Sheldon, and often is ranked among the top piano players in jazz by critics and various jazz polls. For her part, Stewart, who is Charlap's mother, had a thriving career in musical theater, cabaret and jazz before retiring in the 1960s to raise her family; her comeback in the 1990s prompted renewed interest in both her older work and her present day performances, as described in this feature story from the New York Times.

On Thursday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran performs a free show with his trio at Broadway Bean, a new coffee house, art gallery and music venue at 7619 South Broadway in the Carondelet neighborhood. Moving on to the weekend, on Friday the smooth jazz saxophonist Najee will headline a "Jazz Explosion" show, also featuring unspecified "special guests," at the Ambassador Events Center, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd. Continuing in that contemporary, electrified vein, the quartet Good 4 The Soul, featuring pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist John King, guitarist Shaun Robinson and drummer James Jackson, will bring their mix of jazz, funk, soul and gospel back to the Bistro on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey in a concert of traditional New Orleans style jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield. For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ / StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up on the StLJN Facebook page.
http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2009/12/police-investigating-shooting-robbery.html

Hear Ye! New Recommendations

This time around, CDs by Bill Charlap's "other" trio, Miguel Zenón exploring his PR roots and the uncanny Mitchell/Marsh duo. Also: a DVD of Art Farmer in his prime and a book about Scott La Faro. Kindly direct your attention to Doug's Picks in the center column. The Rifftides staff wishes you good listening, viewing and reading.

New York Trio, Always (Venus). This is pianist Charlap's other trio, with bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Bill Stewart rather than his Blue Note companions Peter Washington and Kenny Washington. In his eighth CD for the Japanese label he honors Irving Berlin by lovingly playing the melodies of ten Berlin songs, then improvising on the pieces with inventiveness, harmonic ingenuity and interaction with Leonhart and Stewart. Charlap's keyboard touch and subtle use of dynamics, notable throughout, are captivating in the unaccompanied version of "Russian Lullaby" that ends the album.

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2009/10/hear_ye_new_recommendation.html

Blue Note's Magnificent 7....

Blue Note Records' 70th Anniversary was the catalyst for the Blue Note 7, a septet featuring some of our best musicians (Nicholas Payton, Steve Wilson, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Charlap, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash) playing new workings of the classic repertoire. The band recorded an album, Mosaic, and then started touring.
I caught up with them in Tucson, where they ended the first leg of a nearly six month schedule that will bring their music all over the US. Like any working group, the musical interplay gathers momentum the longer they stay together. Sadly, working bands on extended tours are something of a rarity these days. Group chemistry doesn't happen in an instant, its an organic process that must be nurtured.
Before their Tucson concert, the group allowed me to film them performing Steve Wilson's arrangement of Thelonious Monk's Criss Cross. I've shot other groups playing music, but this is really the first time I was able to get right up on the stage, in their faces, and feel like I was part of the music.
In addition to my moving camera, I used a stationary camera for a wide shot. Each musician took one chorus, and like the true professionals they are, each was able to infuse that one chorus with some serious musical intensity. This is my best performance video to date, and I look forward to working with other musicians in this intimate, exciting way. Many thanks to the Blue Note 7 for their remarkable performance, and cooperation and to their Road Manager and Ace Soundman Richard Battaglia.
The Jazz Video Guy Newsletter

Jazz Valentines: Bill Charlap And Renee Rosnes

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, February 13, 2009 - It's a rare thing to have three pianists at three pianos in one studio. But given the recent marriage of keyboard masters Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes, Marian McPartland thought it was a perfect opportunity to expand the Piano Jazz format with two of today's most gifted players as her guests.

Rosnes (the modern master) and Charlap (the accomplished acolyte of the American songbook) are a true jazz-piano power couple. Naturally, they met on the bandstand in various encounters over the years, from New York to Switzerland to Japan. The couple got together for the ultimate duet in 2007, with a star-studded wedding ceremony at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex.

Charlap's talents run in the family: His father, Moose Charlap, was a successful Broadway composer, while his mother, Sandy Stewart, was a popular singer in the 1960s who worked with Benny Goodman and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. While Bill grew up on the Manhattan music scene, Irene "Renee" Rosnes spent her childhood on the other side of the continent in Vancouver, British Columbia. She didn't make it to New York until the mid-'80s, but her jazz acumen was quickly recognized by such jazz masters as Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and J.J. Johnson.

The two demonstrate their complementary styles on a duet of "Just in Time." Charlap and Rosnes then invite McPartland into the mix for a trio version of "Gone With the Wind" — which happens to be the very first tune the couple ever played together.

Rosnes plays a haunting, impressionistic version of Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge" and Charlap salutes McPartland with her own "Stranger in a Dream." The two come together again on a gently swinging duet version of McPartland's most famous tune, "Twilight World." The host can't resist taking advantage of this unique piano-trio setting to perform a free improv sesson with her guests. The esteemed trio winds up the hour with each having a go at "I'll Remember April."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100654672