Customer Reviews

Written in the Stars

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's about time in all the meanings of that phrase. I have been following this gifted pianist through recordings and live at the Deer Head Inn, where he often plays. Bill Charlap is the real aricle, and in his own way a continuation of Tommy Flannagan and many others. Although on this recording you do not hear his bebop chops, which I was priveleged to hear backing the master Phil Woods, it was a gutsy decision to stay with the standards as only he can play them. Here we have one of the only young Jazz players who thinks also of tempo, doesnt rush and thats why he can live in the notes he's playing and make them count. The rest of the trio is made up of players familiar to those listining to the best contemporary music, both virtuoso musicians who know when less is more. Please go and buy this recording it's one you can grow old with.

This from the owner of uncountable jazz piano recordings going back to Tatem, Teddy Wilson, Nat Cole and with an overflow library of Bill Evans. Charlap does the best, most creative, most lively interpretation of standards I've ever heard. You need do no more than listen to the back-to-back cuts of "Slow Boat to China" (whoever did that one like this before?) and "One for My Baby" to get an idea of his versatility and creative range. He is just as good on his Stardust album and on "All through the night".

I just finished listening to an interview of Bill Charlap on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. I've had this gorgeous CD for at least a year and play it often. I also had the pleasure of hearing Charlap play live with the Phil Woods Quintet last year. On this CD, Charlap and his trio mates, Kenny Washington (d) and Peter Washington (b), offer a wonderful selection of 11 standards (Blue Skies and Where or When in waltz time are two of my favorites) that reinterpret these tunes in a consistently lyrical and appealing way. You might be tempted to pop this CD in the player as background music, but I recommend that you listen to it carefully and attentively, because I guarantee that your appreciation of the sensitive and intelligent interaction of these outstanding players will be even greater as a result. Bill Charlap probably isn't a household name, even among many jazz fans, but if he continues to turn out fine performances like this one I hope he will be.

Any true jazz fan knows that the names Bill Charlap, Peter Washington and Kenny Washington on a CD basically assures the finest quality of beautiful jazz available. However, what sets this CD apart from other great jazz CDs is the beautiful, sensitive treatment give to all ballads and the surprises inherent in the arrangements of the more uptempo tunes. All three giants of this music are creative and beautiful improvisors and continually compliment one another. I couldn't find enough words in the dictionary to highly recommend this CD - you've got to purchase it and find out for yourself!

An amazing fact about jazz is that we keep rediscovering it.
I thought I knew all the great Cole Porter tunes, but here
comes a wonderful rendering of his "Where Have Your Been?" and I
cannot get it out of my head! Charlap makes everything sound
easy - sort of like Ralph Sharon....which is maybe why he has recently been playing with Tony Bennett.

What a great discovery, totally by accident. As a trio, there are none better than this group.

I don't know how I missed Charlap. It is true, as some have remarked, that he is reminiscent of Tommy Flanagan--expecially in terms of touch and the very, very thoughtful way he plays (compare Charlap's ballads here with something like "Lady Be Good" on Flanagan's tribute to Ella album from a few years back). I can also understand the reference to Bill Evans; but Charlap doesn't have that sometimes off-putting (to me, at least) Evans murkiness and obscurity in this playing. Beyond that, I've rarely heard a piano in such total touch with the bass and drums. This is a made-in-heaven trio I'm definitely going to pursue.

If you appreciate the stylish licks of Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Hank Jones, add this gem of a cd by Bill Charlap to your collection. The man appreciates the American Songbook, and does it justice.

An early album and still the best for me, this trio recording is great jazz. Backed by the major rhythm section of Kenny Washington on drums and Peter Washington on bass, Bill Charlap's piano work is elegant. We hear beautiful renditions from the Great American Songbook of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Frank Losser, and the Gershwins plus a tune from Charlap's father, Moose. I feel as if I were sitting at a nearby table in New York club, the studio engineering providing such an intimate sound. Charlap has fine phrasing and a keen sensitivity to the unsung lyrics. The overall mood is relaxed with only a couple up-tempo pieces (On a Slow Boat to China seems to be a fast clipper); the conveyed time of day is evening to late at night. I allow the music to flow through and envelop me and all is good with the world. These musicians interact well and together they have produced a truly sophisticated album.

Bill Charlapp is one of the few and rare jazz pianists who captures the Bill Evans style. His version of Where or When is a classic.