Grammy Award–winning pianist BILL CHARLAP has performed with many of the leading artists of our time, including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter, Tony Bennett, Gerry Mulligan, Houston Person, Barbra Streisand and Phil Woods. He is acclaimed for his solo and trio interpretations of the American Popular Songbook and has recorded albums featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, and Duke Ellington.
Bill Charlap has earned Grammy nominations for Uptown Downtown, Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein, and The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard. The 2016 recording, Notes from New York, received a five-star review in DownBeat magazine. 2021’s Street of Dreams followed by 2024’s And Then Again marked his return to the Blue Note label. Charlap’s most recent release is the Grammy nominated Elemental in duo performance with the brilliant and highly celebrated vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Charlap tours all over the world, and his New York engagements include regular appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, and the Village Vanguard.
From 2005 to 2023, Charlap was artistic director of New York City’s Jazz in July Festival at the 92nd Street Y. He is currently Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University of New Jersey, one of the world’s longest running and most respected jazz programs.
Born in New York City, Bill Charlap began playing the piano at age three. His father was Broadway composer Moose Charlap, who wrote the score for the production of Peter Pan starring Mary Martin. His mother is singer Sandy Stewart, who toured with Benny Goodman, appeared on the Ed Sullivan and Perry Como shows, and earned a Grammy Award nomination for her 1963 recording of the song “My Coloring Book.”
Charlap’s album with Tony Bennett, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It features Charlap and Bennett in duet, and in collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio, plus Bennett with piano duo performances with renowned jazz pianist and composer Renee Rosnes. Charlap and Rosnes are husband and wife, and they frequently perform piano duo concerts. Their recording, Double Portrait on the Blue Note label was released in 2010 to critical acclaim.
www. billcharlap.com