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Bill Charlap Trio

Uptown, Downtown

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Bill Charlap Trio - Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (Album Uptown, Downtown, 2017)
SCP Jazz: Cecile Mclorin Salvant and Bill Charlap Trio
1 Curtains  
2 Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most  
3 Uptown, Downtown  
4 The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else  
5 I'm All Smiles  
6 There's A Small Hotel  
7 Satellite  
8 Bon ami  
9 Sophisticated Lady  
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Grammy Award winning pianist Bill Charlap and his longtime trio partners bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington get back to the highest standards with an album of quintessential compositions. Uptown Downtown is due out on Impulse!/Verve on September 8 and WBGO announced the news today, calling the trio "a fixture of the New York jazz firmament." 

Celebrating their twentieth year playing together, the Bill Charlap Trio will be taking up residence at the Village Vanguard on September 5 for two weeks performing songs from the album, among other uniquely chosen repertoire from their vast trio book. 

The Bill Charlap Trio is the pinnacle of jazz piano trio playing and has been a New York City staple since 1997. Uptown Downtown is a collection of essential melodies from Broadway, theater and jazz. Composers such as Gerry Mulligan (Charlap's friend and early mentor), Richard Rodgers, Jim Hall, Duke Ellington, Michael Leonard, among others, are represented here. The cross section of theater, Broadway, and jazz is Bill Charlap's silver lining: where Thelonious Monk meets Stephen Sondheim, where Gershwin meets Gillespie. 

The album features songs such as "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," "The One I Love Belongs With Somebody Else," "Sophisticated Lady," "I'm All Smiles," among other refreshing choices. 

The trio is in breathtaking form on this album, their chemistry on full display. Bill Charlap says of his trio partners, " Peter Washington and Kenny Washington are both virtuosos on their instruments, and they have the ability to think and play with a sense of composition and instant arrangement that elevates them to the highest strata of rhythm section teams ever. At this point we can feel the multi layered communication which has developed from so many years of performing together plus the instant chemistry that we felt the first time we played…at the same time…every time"." 

  • Bill Charlap remembers Tony Bennett / 88.3WBGO
    Posted At: July 25, 2023
    Bill Charlap writes (as told to Lee Mergner)……The first time I met Tony Bennett, I was playing solo piano at a club called J's at 97th Street and Broadway. Tony came in with Helen Keane, who had been Bill Evans’ manager. He listened and he sketched something of me and gave it to me. Of course, I was delighted to meet him. I had grown up on the duo albums that he had made with Bill Evans, among many other ja...

  • "I'll miss everything about him." Bill Charlap on Tony Bennett / TIDAL
    Posted At: July 24, 2023
    The revered pianist remembers the grace and wisdom of the iconic singer, who died last week at age 96.TIDAL's Michael J. West writes…..Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known to the world as Tony Bennett, passed away on July 21 at the age of 96. Though he was justly revered as a crooner and an interpreter of traditional pop, Bennett’s life and death resonated far beyond those corners of the musical world. ...

  • Bill Charlap - Uptown, Downtown JazzTimes inter-review
    Posted At: April 14, 2018

    The new millennium has been a period of worldwide experimentation within the jazz art form. This energy is healthy. Jazz must innovate, or it will stagnate. But when you hear an album like Bill Charlap's Grammy-nominated Uptown, Downtown, you realize that creative breakthroughs can also occur in the context of, and because of, the inspiration of the great jazz tradition. "Style" can be a neutral term...

  • Bill Charlap Trio set for Penn State's Schwab Auditorium / The Underground
    Posted At: February 4, 2018

     Bill Charlap's trio will play Penn State's Schwab Auditorium on February 13. In 2017, the trio(bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington) released: "Uptown, Downtown," which was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in the 2017 Grammy Awards. In 2015, Charlap won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album in teaming up with Tony Bennett, an American singer, on "The Silve...

  • Live GRAMMY's tweeting with local shoutouts from NorthJersey.com
    Posted At: January 28, 2018

    It's music's big night, and we're watching. Chris Jordan, one of New Jersey's USA Today Network music and entertainment reporters, will be following along as the music industry hands out its top honors during the 60th annual Grammy Awards at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The TV broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. on CBS. Stay tuned. Chris Jordan will have the details ...

  • William Paterson University's jazz studies director, Bill Charlap up for 2018 GRAMMY / northjersey.com
    Posted At: January 2, 2018

    No stranger to success, a distinguished pianist and director of William Paterson University's jazz studies program is in the running for his second Grammy Award this month. Bill Charlap and his longtime bandmates, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, comprise the Bill Charlap Trio. The group's latest album, "Uptown, Downtown," received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumen...

  • Cecile McLorin Salvant, Bill Charlap Trio & Billy Childs make 'Jazz After Hours' highlights of 2017 program
    Posted At: December 28, 2017

    This weekend will be the Highlights of 2017 shows on PRI's Jazz After Hours. The list was carefully selected, based on several factors (including spins and depth), and reflects the sound of the show this year.  Host Jeff Hanley delivers just the right mix of contemporary and classical jazz music on Public Radio International's - Jazz After Hours. Whole welcoming guests such as Ray Brown...

  • Dirty Dog: Jazz Notes With Judy Adams celebrates outstanding albums of 2017 with Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown Downtown
    Posted At: December 23, 2017

    Here is a compilation of our Jazz Notes reviews of some of the year's best Jazz recordings. We'll be continuing our list in next week's blog so "stay tuned"! Pianist Bill Charlap Trio's new album - Uptown Downtown breathes new life into often played standards. His one of a kind, lush inimitable style draws us closer to these time-tested tunes that have become true classics. Charlap is one of...

  • Bill Charlap Trio opens London Jazz Festival / Jazz Journal
    Posted At: November 14, 2017

    It's that time again, 10 days at the tail end of autumn in which jazz buffs of every stripe and persuasion can converge on London secure in the knowledge that they can pig out on one of the most eclectic musical buffets available over the counter sans prescription. Truly something for everyone. So no real surprises when Friday evening on the opening day of the festival found me ensconced at Pizza...

  • Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown Downtown is KCCK: Featured CD for October
    Posted At: October 17, 2017

    The KCCK: Cedar Rapids IA , Featured CD for October is "Uptown Downtown" from the Bill Charlap Trio. The disc marks a milestone for the Grammy-winning pianist and his longtime trio mates bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. They've been a New York City staple since 1997, and their chemistry is on full display as they celebrate their 20th anniversary with a collection of essential me...

  • Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown Downtown makes Dirty Dog - Jazz Notes With Judy Adams: Fall 2017 playlist
    Posted At: October 10, 2017

    Pianist Bill Charlap's new album - Uptown Downtown breathes new life into often played standards. His one of a kind, lush, inimitable style draws us closer to these time-tested tunes that have become true classics. Charlap is one of the best pianists in Jazz today as he shares his creative interpretations of these infectious melodies – showing off his very expressive and intuitive approach and deep...

  • Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown Downtown includes many surprises / JazzWax review
    Posted At: October 6, 2017

    The last time I saw pianist Bill Charlap was in July at 92Y's Jazz in July series in New York, where he directed one of the most intimate and rewarding jazz concerts I've seen in some time. Bill's trio backed Jimmy Heath and Benny Golson, two legendary tenor saxophonists who were in superb form that night. Jeremy Pelt also joined the group on trumpet. Much of the concert's cohesion and su...

  • Bill Charlap performs songs from new album - Uptown, Downtown on WNYC: Leonard Lopate Show
    Posted At: September 12, 2017

    Jazz pianist and two-time Grammy Award winning pianist Bill Charlap performs songs from his new album "Uptown, Downtown" live in studio on: WNYC: New York - The Leonard Lopate show. Charlap and his longtime trio partners bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington get back to the highest standards with an album of quintessential compositions - Uptown Downtown. Released on Impulse!/Verve on...

  • Bill Charlap set for 'Leonard Bernstein, 100th birthday tribute' / BroadwayWorld
    Posted At: September 8, 2017

    Grammy award winning pianist Bill Charlap, considered to be one of the premiere interpreters of the music of Leonard Bernstein, brings his celebrated Trio to the Jeanne Rimsky stage on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 8 PM for an evening of music by one of America's great composers. Charlap has performed with many of the leading artists of our time including Phil Woods, Tony Bennett, Gerry Mulliga...

  • Bill Charlap Trio - Uptown Downtown / LEMON WIRE review
    Posted At: August 30, 2017

    Grammy Award-winning pianist, Bill Charlap has been a recording artist since 1993. In addition to making music for 20-plus years, Charlap has also found time to bring music to diverse, and perhaps underserved demographics. According to the artist's website, for just longer than a decade, he has served as artistic director of New York City's Jazz in July Festival. The musician also works as the Di...

  • Hear title track from new Bill Charlap Trio album - Uptown, Downtown / WBGO
    Posted At: August 7, 2017

    The Bill Charlap Trio, a fixture of the New York jazz firmament, began making music together 20 years ago. To celebrate milestone, the group - with Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums - has announced a new studio album. Impulse!/Verve will release the album, Uptown, Downtown, on Sept. 8, during the trio's next two-week residency at the Village Vanguard. Here is the ti...

  • Bill Charlap is set for 'Oscar, With Love' and q&a's with the Ottawa Citizen
    Posted At: July 10, 2017

    When a technician inspecting Oscar Peterson's cherished Bösendorfer Imperial piano told his widow Kelly "the piano needs to be played," she knew it was time. Barely touched since the jazz legend's death in 2007, it became the focus of a labour of love as Kelly gathered some of the world's best jazz pianists to record a tribute to this iconic instrument. The resulting record, Oscar, Wit...

  • Bill Charlap picks up 2, 2017 JJA noms
    Posted At: April 24, 2017

    2017 JJA Jazz Awards Nominees were chosen by the votes of Jazz Journalists Association members. Nominations were made on the basis of work done in calendar year 2016, with the exception of Lifetime Achievement Awards categories, in which nominations are for a lifetime body of work. Members and others were able to submit their own work for consideration in the Photo of the Year category; a committee of JJ...

  • Bill Charlap set for Cincinnati's - Xavier University / Lexington Herald Leader
    Posted At: March 26, 2017

    Bill Charlap, who is set to play the Gallagher Theater, Xavier University in Cincinnati on March 26, took home a Grammy last year, curiously, for Best Traditional Pop Album for "The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern." Charlap's latest on Impulse/Verve - "Notes from New York," is an album by the long-running Charlap trio, which earned a five-star review from Downbeat magazine. Cri...

  • Bill Charlap Trio - Notes from New York makes NPR Music ' 2016 Jazz Critics Poll'
    Posted At: December 22, 2016

    Playing a melody is an art in itself, one that necessitates experience, intuition and humility. In the jazz capitol of the world, New York City, Bill Charlap is considered one of the great interpreters of melodies, songs written for musicals, and Broadway shows or films that when moved from their original source, become the standards that jazz artists make their own. For his debut impulse! reco...

  • Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes play NPR's - A Jazz Piano Christmas' at The Kennedy Center / DC Metro Theatre Arts review
    Posted At: December 13, 2016

    It was a family affair last night on the December 10 at The Kennedy Center's Family Theater for the annual NPR's A Jazz Piano Christmas. With performances by first a father and daughter team, Bethany and Willie Pickens; and later by a husband and wife team, Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes; Christmas felt very much present in the room. The evening started with host Félix Contreras, of NPR fam...

  • Rifftides ...just because. Bill Charlap plays 'Blue Skies' / artsjournal
    Posted At: December 9, 2016

    Outside Rifftides world headquarters, we're having the first snowfall of the season. The prediction is for three inches here tonight and an accumulation of as much as a foot in the nearby ski areas of the Cascade Mountains. The temperature is in the low twenties (Fahrenheit), but neighborhood children are in their yards laughing, shouting and building snowmen. So, what does it make sense to listen to? Wh...

  • Bill Charlap comes to Delray Beach / SouthFlorida.com
    Posted At: November 24, 2016

    One of the world's preeminent jazz pianists, Bill Charlap comes to Delray Beach this weekend at the end of what has been a particularly fulfilling year, beginning with the Grammy Award he shared with Tony Bennett for their album "The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern." A couple of months later, the Bill Charlap Trio (with drummer Kenny Washington and bassist Peter Washington) released "The Bill...
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