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Bill Charlap solo piano: Tradition, invention and wit

Justin Steyer
/
KPLU
Bill Charlap performing live in the KPLU Seattle studios on October 24.

It’s no wonder that pianist, Bill Charlap, loves the music that has come to be called The Great American Songbook—the songs of great Tin Pan Alley composers such as Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.  

He grew up with it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO4UmbBQTQw

Born and raised in New York, Bill’s father, Moose Charlap, was a Broadway composer and his mother, Sandy Stewart, is a self-described ‘popular singer with jazz overtones.’  

In this performance/interview with jazz host, Abe Beeson, Bill takes 2 songs from that fabled Songbook and uses them to illustrate how a jazz musician can honor tradition and still be on the cutting edge of improvisational invention.  

And as you listen, try to identify all of the other songs that Bill quotes as he finds his way to the heart of the song he’s playing.  Underlying Bill Charlap’s technical brilliance and great emotional focus is a musical wit that is second to none.

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Justin joined KNKX in 2009 as the station's first Multimedia Manager. In this role, Justin helped to produce multimedia content, and implement systems and procedures in efforts to transform KNKX from a traditional broadcast station into a multi-platform media organization.
Abe grew up in Western Washington, a 3rd generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.