Bill Charlap is one of the strongest mainstream jazz pianists on the scene and one of the most gifted interpreters of standards. He grew up in a musical household, as the son of Broadway songwriter Moose Charlap and singer
Sandy Stewart. Taking to the piano at a young age, he went on to study at New York's High School of Performing Arts. He then entered college, but rather than finishing, he opted to practice and play on his own. Pianist
Bill Mays soon took up
Charlap's cause, recommending the young man as his replacement in
the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. During this time,
Charlap also worked with
Benny Carter,
Clark Terry, and
Frank Wess, and was sought after as an accompanist for singers such as
Tony Bennett,
Carol Sloane, and
Sheila Jordan. In 1995, he secured one of the most coveted piano chairs in jazz with
the Phil Woods Quintet.
All the while,
Charlap showed steady development as a leader. His debut came in 1994 with Along with Me, followed by
Souvenir in 1995 and
Distant Star in 1996. His 1997 release,
All Through the Night, was the first to feature his trio with the redoubtable (and unrelated) Washingtons,
Peter and
Kenny, on bass and drums respectively. In 2000, this lineup had its major-label breakthrough with the highly acclaimed Blue Note disc
Written in the Stars. Two albums appeared in 2001:
2Gether with
Warren Vaché and
Contrasts with
Jon Gordon. 'S Wonderful hit the shelves in 2002, as did
Stardust, which began a series of albums that focused on a single composer.
Stardust featured the music of
Hoagy Carmichael, 2004's
Somewhere was an all-
Leonard Bernstein affair, and 2005's
Plays George Gershwin featured ten songs by the man
Charlap considers "the American soul." Also in 2005, he released an album with vocalist
Sandy Stewart,
Love Is Here to Stay. The concert album
Live at the Village Vanguard appeared in 2007.
In 2010,
Charlap joined pianist
Renee Rosnes for the duo effort
Double Portrait. Two years later, he reunited with
Stewart for
Something to Remember. In 2015, he collaborated with legendary vocalist
Tony Bennett for
Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, and in 2017 he released
Uptown, Downtown with his trio. ~ David R. Adler