Jazz Articles about Bill Charlap

Ruby Braff: I Hear Music

by AAJ Staff
November 1, 2002

Ruby Braff has compiled an album of sheer pleasure in quintet work. His well shaped cornet sound, and the interplay of the instruments through each cut is a shining example of mastery of pacing and a sense of timing. Within each of the cuts is a conversation between the instruments where each one says their version of the melody in turn. Cut 2, a medley of “Chicago” and “My Kind of Town” also has hints of Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold ...

Bill Charlap: Stardust

by C. Michael Bailey
July 17, 2002

Charlap or Meldhau?...

Pianist Bill Charlap's intelligent musicality is quietly validated in the choice of guests he brings to his new recording of Hoagy Carmichael standards, Stardust. Right on the closing chords of a rousing trio reading of “Jubilee," the listener is treated to the opening lines of “I Get Along without You Very Well" a cappella introduction from Mr. Tony Bennett. A most fabulous pairing that would make any listener hope for a Bennett/Charlap project to mirror the Bennett/Bill ...

Bill Charlap: Stardust

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 12, 2002

Although he had made a few records previously, by the time that pianist Bill Charlap cut All Through the Night in 1997, it was obvious that the connection established with trio mates Peter and Kenny Washington was a special one, capable of great finesse and intuitiveness. People in the upstairs offices at Blue Note also must have known a good thing when they heard it because it wasn’t long before Charlap was inking his first major label deal. Written in ...

Bill Charlap: Stardust

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 12, 2002

Although he had made a few records previously, by the time that pianist Bill Charlap cut All Through the Night in 1997, it was obvious that the connection established with trio mates Peter and Kenny Washington was a special one, capable of great finesse and intuitiveness. People in the upstairs offices at Blue Note also must have known a good thing when they heard it because it wasn’t long before Charlap was inking his first major label deal. Written in ...

Bill Charlap's Stardust

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 2, 2002

As was evident in his first trio releases for Criss Cross, pianist Bill Charlap is genuinely interested in beauty. In his hands, even the most overt swingers seem to find melody expressed as a prime ingredient, with a lithe use of space and dynamics providing the shading to his most personal expressions. While 2000's Written in the Stars might have communicated Charlap's finest qualities to a larger audience, it's likely that Stardust may be the pianist's strongest showing yet on ...

Bill Charlap: Contrasts with Jon Gordon / Voyage with Phil Woods

by C. Michael Bailey
February 1, 2002

A precocious, well- studied pianist, trading eights with two alto giants.

 The common denominator in both of these recent releases would at first glance appear to be pianist Bill Charlap. However, the relationship goes much deeper. Alto saxophonist Jon Gordon was a school chum of Charlap's at New York City's High School for the Performing. Phil Woods's was Gordon's principle teacher and produced Contrasts for Double-Time records. The disc was recorded in Phil Wood's home. Phil Woods's mentions Voyage in ...

Meet Bill Charlap

by Craig Jolley
March 31, 2001

Songwriter Moose Charlap (father) and show business childhood He wrote lyrics to some things, not too many. He mainly wrote music, played piano, and sang. He wasn't a pianist per se--he sort of demonstrated his own music. I wasn't like a “show business brat." I just did what came naturally--some people I'd perform in front of, and some I wouldn't. Nobody ever forced me to play my cute piece. Interest in show music That's the central part of ...