Since 1997, Grammy Award-winning pianist Bill Charlap has led the Bill Charlap Trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. The trio, recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz, will highlight the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival (JCIJBF) with special guests Dee Dee Bridgewater and Nicholas Payton on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024 in High Point, NC.
The Bill Charlap Trio
Marking their 23rd year together, the trio has earned Grammy nominations for Uptown Downtown (Impulse!/Verve), Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein (Blue Note) and The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note). Their 2016 recording, Notes from New York (Impulse!/Verve) earned a five-star review in Downbeat, which hailed it as “a masterclass in class.” The trio’s most recent release, Street of Dreams marks their return to the Blue Note label.
BILL CHARLAP – PIANO
Charlap’s album with Tony Bennett, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern (RPM/ Columbia), won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It features Mr. Charlap and Mr. Bennett in duet, in collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio and in duo piano performances with his wife, renowned jazz pianist and composer, Renee Rosnes. Born in New York City, Charlap began playing the piano at age three. His father was Broadway composer Moose Charlap, who wrote the score for the Mary Martin production of Peter Pan, and his mother is singer Sandy Stewart, who toured with Benny Goodman.
The Artistic Director of the 92NY’s Jazz in July Festival for 18 years, Charlap has also produced concerts for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the Chicago Symphony Center and the Hollywood Bowl. He is currently Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Founded in 1973, it is one of the longest-running and most respected jazz programs in the world.
KENNY WASHINGTON – DRUMS
The Brooklyn-born, Staten Island-bred drummer, Kenny Washington is a jazz legend and prolific freelancer with an enormous discography. He has worked behind so many of the jazz greats that it is easy to lose count. Included on that list are: Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Ahmad Jamal, Ronnie Mathews, Lee Konitz, and Betty Carter, to name a scant few. Washington is also an educator who is on the faculty at State University of New York Purchase and the Juilliard School. Washington also has a strong interest in jazz history and has written liner notes for and/or helped prepare classic jazz re-releases by Art Blakey and Count Basie, among others.
PETER WASHINGTON – BASS
Peter Washington is perhaps the most recorded bassist of his generation, with a discography of more than 450 recordings. Born in Los Angeles in 1964, Washington played classical bass as a teen and majored in English literature at University of California in Berkeley, where he played in both the UC Symphony, and the San Francisco Youth Symphony. In 1986, he was invited by the legendary Art Blakey to join the Jazz Messengers in New York. He played with the Tommy Flanagan Trio until Flanagan’s death. As a freelance musician, Washington has worked with such legendary artists and groups as Benny Golson, Mingus Dynasty, Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie and the Gil Evans Orchestra.
.
